nearly one
o'clock
I suppose I must have dozed off , but I was suddenly awakened by hearing a peculiar noise . I sat up in alarm , and then I realized that Mr. Damon had not come in . '' `` I was frightened then , and I called my maid . It was nearly one o'clock , and my husband never stays out as late as that . We went next door , and found that Mr. Blackson had not been out of his house that evening . So it could not have been he to whom Mr. Damon was speaking . '' `` We roused up other neighbors , and they searched all about the grounds , thinking he might have been overcome by a sudden faint .