nine o’clock
Perhaps even then the thought of Annunciata 's tardy and certain-to-be bungling efforts to make Ferdinand William Otto happy amused him . He smiled faintly . Nikky , watching his rooms being dismantled , rescuing an old pipe now and then , or a pair of shabby but beloved boots , -- Nikky , whistling to keep up his courage , received a note from Hedwig late that afternoon . It was very brief : To-night at nine o'clock I shall go to the roof beyond Hubert 's old rooms , for air . HEDWIG . Nikky , who in all his incurious young life had never thought of the roof of the Palace , save as a necessary shelter from the weather , a thing of tiles and gutters , vastly large , looked rather astounded . `` The roof ! ''