nine o'clock
I hesitated no longer . The man was a cunning hypocrite . I would go on cheerfully , secure that he deserved all the bamboozling which the duchess and my friend Gustave might prepare for him . At nine o'clock , as Gustave had arranged , we started in a heavy carriage drawn by two great white horses and driven by a stolid fat hostler . Slowly we jogged along under the stars , St. Michel being our continual companion on the right hand , as we followed the road round the bay . When we had gone five or six miles , we turned suddenly inland . There were banks on each side of the road now , and we were going uphill ; for rising out of the plain there was a sudden low spur of higher ground .