ten o'clock
This drew Lawrence to him by a double cord : practically , because it is inconvenient to be on bad terms with one 's brother-in-law , and mystically , because in his profound romantic passion he loved whatever was associated with her , down to the very sprig of honeysuckle that she had pinned into his coat . But for this cord his relations with Stafford would have begun and ended in a casual regret for the casual indulgence of a cruel impulse . But Isabel 's brother had ex officio a right of entry into Hyde 's private life , and , the doors once opened , he was dazed by the light that Val let in . It was after ten o'clock and dews were falling , falling from a clear night . `` One faint eternal eventide of gems , '' beading the dark turf underfoot and the pale faces of roses that had bloomed all day in sunshine : now prodigal of scent only they hung their heads like ghosts of flowers among dark glossy leaves . Stars hung sparkling on the dark field of heaven , stars threw down their spears on the dark river fleeting to the star-roofed distant Channel . Stream and grass and leaf-buds were ephemeral and eternal , ever passing and ever renewed , old as the stars , or the waste ether in which they range : the green , sappy stem , the dew-bead that hung on it , the shape of a ripple were the same now as when Nineveh was a queen of civilization and men 's flesh was reddening alive in osier cages over altar fires on Wiltshire downs .