ten o'clock
`` This is from Sorel , '' exclaimed the official . `` It comes just in time to throw light upon our affairs and will enable Lieutenant Hardinge , who returns to-morrow , to bring the latest news to Quebec . '' Saying which , he read the despatch . At ten o'clock , on the morning of the 8th November , the day after his arrival , Roderick Hardinge presented himself at the residence of the Commandant of Three Rivers . It was the hour agreed upon between them for a conference , which circumstance did not prevent the Commandant from manifesting some surprise on seeing the young officer . `` You surely are not ready to start for Quebec already ? '' he asked .