Ten o'clock
And now , now -- his thoughts would come to the end of a blind alley , and then he would start back , as it were , mentally , to the center of things , and begin all over again . He went up the stairs to his own office slowly . He went in and sat down , and thought and thought . Ten o'clock came , and eleven . His son bothered him with an occasional matter of interest , but , finding him moody , finally abandoned him to his own speculations . It was twelve , and then one , and he was still sitting there thinking , when the presence of Cowperwood was announced . Cowperwood , on finding Butler not at home , and not encountering Aileen , had hurried up to the office of the Edward Butler Contracting Company , which was also the center of some of Butler 's street-railway interests .