nine o'clock
Langmaid turned and picked up his hat and stick and left the room without another word . The bewildered , wistful look which had replaced the ordinarily benign and cheerful expression haunted Hodder long after the lawyer had gone . It was the look of a man who has somehow lost his consciousness of power . At nine o'clock that evening Hodder stood alone in the arched vestry room , and the sight of the heavy Gothic chairs ranged about the long table brought up memories of comfortable , genial meetings prolonged by chat and banter ... . The noise of feet , of subdued voices beside the coat room in the corridor , aroused him . All of the vestry would seem to have arrived at once . He regarded them with a detached curiosity as they entered , reading them with a new insight .