nine o'clock
When M. Belmont returned from his cellar , with a choice bottle of old Burgundy , the reconciliation was complete , and that night the happiest hearts in Quebec were those of Roderick Hardinge and Pauline Belmont . M. Belmont was content at having done a good deed , but he was not really happy . Why , the sequel will tell . It was a little before nine o'clock when Hardinge entered his quarters at the barracks . He had passed through an eventful day , and he felt weary . The interview which he had just held with M. Belmont was , however , so absolutely the object of his pre-occupation , that he appeared in nowise disposed to seek the rest required by his exhausted physical powers . Mechanically divesting himself of his civilian costume and assuming the undress uniform of his rank , he moved absently about his little room , muttering to himself , humming fragments of song , and occasionally breaking out into low laughter .