nine o'clock
Passing as often as I might up and down Notre Dame Street without attracting attention , I saw more than one figure in the semi-darkness enter the low château door . Occasionally a tiny gleam showed at the edge of a shutter or at the top of some little window not fully screened . As to what went on within I could only guess . I passed the château , up and down , at different times from nine o'clock until midnight . The streets of Montreal at that time made brave pretense of lighting by virtue of the new gas works ; at certain intervals flickering and wholly incompetent lights serving to make the gloom more visible . None the less , as I passed for the last time , I plainly saw a shaft of light fall upon the half darkness from a little side door . There emerged upon the street the figure of a woman .