ten minutes to twelve
St. George hurried to his apartment to leave a note for Amory who was directed upon his arrival to bide there and await his host 's return . Then he paced the floor until it was time to go back to the Boris , deaf to Rollo 's solemn information that the dust comes up out of the varnish of furniture during the night , like cream out of milk . By the time he had boarded a down-town car , St. George had tortured himself to distraction , and his own responsibility in this submarine voyage loomed large and threatening . Therefore , it suddenly assumed the proportion of mountains yet unseen when , though it wanted ten minutes to twelve when he reached the Boris , his card was returned by a faint polite clerk with the information that Mrs. Hastings and Miss Holland had been gone from the hotel for half an hour . There was a note for him in their box the clerk believed , and presently produced it -- a brief , regretful word from Olivia telling him that the prince had found that they must leave fully an hour earlier than he had planned . Sick with apprehension , cursing himself for the ease and dexterity with which he had permitted himself to be outwitted by Tabnit , St. George turned blindly from the office with some vague idea of chartering all the tugs in the harbour . It came to him that he had bungled the matter from first to last , and that Bud or Bennietod would have used greater shrewdness .