nine o'clock in the
evening
`` I thought Lacville was a country place . '' `` There are a hundred and twenty trains daily from the Gare du Nord to Lacville , '' said the hotel-keeper drily . `` A great many Parisians spend the evening there each day . They do not start till nine o'clock in the evening , and they are back , having spent a very pleasant , or sometimes an unpleasant , soirée , before midnight . '' `` A hundred and twenty trains ! '' repeated Sylvia , amazed . `` But why do so many people want to go to Lacville ? ''