nine
o'clock
Desmond sometimes sat with him there , reading or playing chess . If he went up to the Hall at nine o'clock he would be sure of a welcome . The evening passed slowly for Desmond in his enforced idleness . At nine o'clock , leaving his bundle in a hollow tree , he set off toward the Hall , taking a short cut across the fields . It was a dark night , and he stopped with a start as , on descending a stile overhung by a spreading sycamore , he almost struck against a person who had just preceded him . `` Who 's that ? '' he asked quickly , stepping back a little : it was unusual to meet anyone in the fields at so late an hour .