At six o'clock she came into the parlor with a budget of news.

Sing Sing, the cook, had been gone for the last half hour, leaving the leg of mutton at the fire.

It soon became clear to them that he had altogether absconded.
"Them rats always does leave a falling house," said Mrs.Growler.
At seven o'clock the sun was down, though the gloom of the tropical evening had not yet come.

The two ladies went out to the gate, which was but a few yards from the veranda, and there stood listening for the sound of Harry's horse.

The low moaning of the wind through the trees could be heard, but it was so gentle, continuous, and unaltered that it seemed to be no more than a vehicle for other sounds, and was as death-like as silence itself.