about half past nine o’clock
`` Pay us first , '' she said , laughing ; `` you will forget it when you come back . '' The remark , based on the old maid 's trickery and her bad faith in paying her debts at cards was approved by the others . Sylvie sat down and thought no more of Pierrette , -- an indifference which surprised no one . When the game was over , about half past nine o'clock , she flung herself into an easy chair at the corner of the fireplace and did not even rise as her guests departed . The colonel was torturing her ; she did not know what to think of him . `` Men are so false ! '' she cried , as she went to bed .