six o'clock
He sprang from bed and picked them up . What could they possibly mean ? They were her roses , certainly -- he remembered she wore the dressing-gown that first evening at Dover , when he had gone to her to give her the gardenias . And they certainly had not been there when at six o'clock he had come in . He would in that case have seen them against the pale carpet . For one exquisite moment he thought they were a message and then he noticed the ribbon had been wrenched off and was torn . No , they were no conscious message , but they did mean that she had been in his room while he slept .