nine o'clock
... '' _ So _ interested to meet Miss Gifford ! '' Eyes and voice alike testified to the conviction that if an engagement were not already arranged , it was a certainty in the near future . Mrs Fanshawe set her lips , and determined by hook or crook to get Claire Gifford out of the house . That evening at nine o'clock the parlour-maid announced that Major Carew 's soldier servant wished to see Captain Fanshawe on a message from his master , and Erskine gave instructions that he should be sent round to the verandah , and stepped out of the window , leaving Claire wondering and discomfited . What had happened ? Was the impostor not to be found ? In her present tension of mind any delay , even of the shortest , seemed unbearable .