about seven o'clock
And it was nearly dusk , the golden-brown evening of China , when they were decanted upon the public landing stage at the International Concession . Anthony was for going directly to the Hotel Astor for dinner , but at Peter 's suggestion he and the twins boarded a street-car for the ride to Bubbling Wells . Peter stood for a number of moments in indecision as the Bubbling Wells tram went up the bund with the slow flood of victorias , rickshaws , and wheelbarrows . It was now about seven o'clock , with the sun hidden under a horizon of dull bronze . Street lights were coming on , twinkling in a long silver serpent along the broad thoroughfare , rising in a grotesque hump over the Soochow bridge , and becoming lost in the American quarter . He would meet Anthony and the twins in the dining-room . Whoever got there first would wait .