about nine o'clock
And yet it was not a dream , but actual , indubitable fact . Should I be telling the story if it were not ? But to continue . It was late , about nine o'clock , before I reached the Arcade , and I had to go into the crocodile room by the back entrance , for the German had closed the shop earlier than usual that evening . Now in the seclusion of domesticity he was walking about in a greasy old frock-coat , but he seemed three times as pleased as he had been in the morning . It was evidently that he had no apprehensions now , and that the public had been coming `` many more . '' The _ Mutter _ came out later , evidently to keep an eye on me .