about nine
o'clock
The French have a proverb which says : `` It is always the unexpected that happens . '' And it was the unexpected that happened in this case . In the midst of his dejection , in the very depths of returning despair , there came to him this note from Mr. Narkom : `` My Dear Cleek , `` Kindly refrain from going out this evening . I shall call about nine o'clock , bringing with me Miss Ailsa Lorne , whom you doubtless remember , and her present patron , Angela , Countess Chepstow , the young widow of that ripping old warhorse , who , as you may recall , quelled that dangerous and fanatical rising of the Cingalese at Trincomalee . These ladies wish to see you with reference to a most extraordinary case , an inexplicable mystery , which both they and I believe no man but yourself can satisfactorily probe . `` Yours in haste , `` Maverick Narkom . '' So , then , he was to see her again , to touch her hand , hear her voice , look into the eyes that had lighted him back from the path to destruction !