three o’clock
` It is for you , mademoiselle , ' I continued , ` to weigh that disadvantage against the unpleasantness of remaining here . It only remains for me to ask you to decide quickly . Time presses , and I have stayed here too long already . ' The words had barely passed my lips when they received unwelcome confirmation in the shape of a distant sound -- the noisy closing of a door , which , clanging through the house at such an hour -- I judged it to be after three o'clock -- could scarcely mean anything but mischief . This noise was followed immediately , even while we stood listening with raised fingers , by other sounds -- a muffled cry , and the tramp of heavy footsteps in a distant passage . Mademoiselle looked at me , and I at her woman . ` The door ! '