about ten o'clock
`` You locked the rooms as usual last night ? '' `` Yes , sir ; that is , I locked them all right , but it was later than usual . '' `` How was that ? '' `` About half an hour after Mr. Mainwaring spoke to me , the housekeeper came and asked me to keep the rooms open till about ten o'clock , as she was expecting callers and wanted to receive them by the south hall into her private parlor . '' `` At what time did you lock the rooms ? '' `` A few minutes after ten , sir . I felt kind of uneasy , because it was Mr. Mainwaring 's orders that the rooms be shut at nine ; so soon as 't was ten o'clock I went around outside , and , seeing no light in her parlor , I went in and locked the hall and then went up-stairs to lock the rooms there . ''