ten o'clock
He was marked present for duty , and yet he was not at the customary assembly of all the commissioned officers at head-quarters . More mystery , and most exasperating , too , it was known that Armitage and Jerrold had held a brief talk in the latter 's quarters soon after Sunday 's evening parade , and that the former had been reinforced for a time by Captain Chester , with whom he was afterwards closeted . Officers who heard that he had suddenly returned and was at Chester 's went speedily to the latter 's quarters , -- at least two or three did , -- and were met by a servant at the door , who said that the gentlemen had just gone out the back way . And , sure enough , neither Chester nor Armitage came home until long after taps ; and then the colonel 's cook told several people that the two gentlemen had spent over an hour up-stairs in the colonel 's and Miss Alice 's room and `` was foolin ' around the house till near ten o'clock . '' Another thing that added to the flame of speculation and curiosity was this . Two of the ladies , returning from a moonlit stroll on the terrace just after tattoo , came through the narrow passage-way on the west side of the colonel 's quarters , and there , at the foot of the little flight of steps leading up to the parade , they came suddenly upon Captain Chester , who was evidently only moderately pleased to see them and nervously anxious to expedite their onward movement . With the perversity of both sexes , however , they stopped to chat and inquire what he was doing there , and in the midst of it all a faint light gleamed on the opposite wall and the reflection of the curtains in Alice Renwick 's window was distinctly visible .