nine
o’clock
`` Come , dear Nell ! '' cried Harry . `` Harry , I am willing to follow you , '' replied the maiden . At nine o'clock the last train through the tunnel started to convey Nell and her companions to the surface of the earth . Twenty minutes later they alighted on the platform where the branch line to New Aberfoyle joins the railway from Dumbarton to Stirling . The night was already dark . From the horizon to the zenith , light vapory clouds hurried through the upper air , driven by a refreshing northwesterly breeze .