ten o'clock
And Jean understood , and said nothing of what was in her heart . `` They have their exits and their entrances . '' _ As You Like It _ . The ten o'clock express from Euston to Scotland was tearing along on its daily journey . It was that barren hour in the afternoon when luncheon is over and forgotten , and tea is yet far distant , and most of the passengers were either asleep or listlessly trying to read light literature . Alone in a first-class carriage sat Bella Bathgate 's lodger -- Miss Pamela Reston . A dressing-bag and a fur-coat and a pile of books and magazines lay on the opposite seat , and the lodger sat writing busily .