ten o'clock
Thar is ways as is common , and ways as is uncommon ; ways as is easy , and ways as is oneasy . Bear up , and keep dark . '' With this Delphic utterance he put his finger to his lips , and vanished . It was ten o'clock when he reached Four Forks . A few minutes later , he stood on the threshold of that dwelling described by the Four Forks `` Sentinel '' as `` the palatial residence of John Ashe , '' and known to the local satirist as the `` ash-box . '' `` Hevin ' to lay by two hours , John , '' he said to his prospective son-in-law , as he took his hand at the door , `` a few words of social converse , not on business , but strictly private , seems to be about as nat ` ral a thing as a man can do . '' This introduction , evidently the result of some study , and plainly committed to memory , seemed so satisfactory to Mr. McClosky , that he repeated it again , after John Ashe had led him into his private office , where , depositing his valise in the middle of the floor , and sitting down before it , he began carefully to avoid the eye of his host .