nine o'clock
Then she turned back into the room , snatched up her gloves and purse from the table and ran down the broad stairs and across the square hall with frenzied haste . A sound of footsteps in a passage close at hand made her start nervously . Without delaying a second she opened the great door , letting in a rush of cold , raw air , and , not venturing to look round , lest even now she should be intercepted in her flight , she slipped through the aperture and fled into the night . At nine o'clock that same evening Jim Herrick , alone in his shabby yet delightful little sitting-room , was roused from his contemplation of an etching he had picked up in town that day by a deep-throated bark from Olga . She had been lying in the hall ; and doubtless her sharp ears had heard some approaching footstep which to his duller human hearing was inaudible . Eva was upstairs , trying on some finery she had purchased in London ; and after waiting a moment Herrick went into the hall to investigate . Someone was knocking now on the door , thereby rousing Olga 's wrath ; and Herrick held her firmly by the collar as he went to answer the summons .