ten
o’clock
They had even an air of positive respectability , as though inhabited by industrious workmen . Then , what was it which made the close companionship of a member of the police so uncommonly welcome ? Was it a certain aspect of solitariness which clung to the block , or was it the sudden appearance here and there of strangely gliding figures , which no sooner loomed up against the snowy perspective , than they disappeared again in some unseen doorway ? `` There 's a meeting on to-night , of the Associated Brotherhood of the Awl , the Plane and the Trowel -LRB- whatever that means -RRB- , and it is the speaker we want to see ; the man who is to address them promptly at ten o'clock . Do you object to meetings ? '' `` Is this a secret one ? '' `` It was n't advertised . ''