ten o'clock
But they did not know that . Nicky had kept the knowledge from them , in his mercy , to save them the agony of deciding whether they would recognize the marriage or not . And as neither Frances nor Anthony had ever faced squarely the prospect of disaster to their children , they had turned their backs on Nicky 's marriage and supported each other in the hope that at the last minute something would happen to prevent it . * * * * * The ten o'clock post , and two letters from Germany . Not from Michael , not from Veronica . One from Frau Schäfer , the mother of the German family . It was all in German , and neither Anthony nor Frances could make out more than a word here and there .