nine o'clock
Ah , well ! The hour at which I had left my betrothed was a rather early one for a lover , but the fact was no reflection on my devotion . I was a confirmed sufferer from insomnia , and although otherwise perfectly well had been completely fagged out that day , from having slept scarcely at all the two previous nights . Edith knew this and had insisted on sending me home by nine o'clock , with strict orders to go to bed at once . The house in which I lived had been occupied by three generations of the family of which I was the only living representative in the direct line . It was a large , ancient wooden mansion , very elegant in an old-fashioned way within , but situated in a quarter that had long since become undesirable for residence , from its invasion by tenement houses and manufactories . It was not a house to which I could think of bringing a bride , much less so dainty a one as Edith Bartlett .