nine o'clock
There was building going on around there , and she was playing near the pit -- childlike -- just as it might be Miss Peggy ... '' Soon and on . The horrors accumulated with every moment . The housemaid had heard tell of a beautiful little girl , the heiress to a big estate , who had been carried off by strolling gipsies , and never been seen again by her sorrowing relatives ; while the waitress hinted darkly that the time might come when it would be a comfort to know force had been employed , for sharper than a serpent 's tooth was an ungrateful child , and she always _ had _ said that there was something uncanny about that little Miss Saville ! The clock was striking nine o'clock when the first of the messengers came back to report his failure ; he was closely followed by a second ; and last of all came Max , bringing word that nothing had been seen or heard of Peggy at the Larches ; that neither Lord Darcy nor Rosalind had the faintest idea of the nature of the work which had just been completed ; and , further , that on this evening Robert was escorting his mother to some entertainment , so that even if sent off at once a telegram could not reach him until a late hour . Mrs Asplin turned her white face from one speaker to the other , and , when the last word was spoken , broke into a paroxysm of helpless weeping . `` Something has happened ! Something terrible has happened to the child !