nine o'clock in the evening
What was to be the end of this drama ? What would the night , the morrow bring about ? He looked back and saw himself as he was a year ago in Washington , before she came into his life , and then wondered if it could ready be he who was going through these strange , improbable scenes , these sensations . It was nine o'clock in the evening when Quinnox returned to the little room . The waiting one had looked at his watch a hundred times , had run insanely up and down the passage in quest of the secret exit , had shouted aloud in the frenzy of desperation . `` Have you seen her ? '' he cried , grasping the new-comer 's hand .