nine o’clock
I did not know this part of Varenne ; I had never been here before , and it was horribly wild . All through the day I had seen tracks of wolves and wild boars in the sand . And now night had come and I was still two leagues from Roche-Mauprat . The gate would be shut , the drawbridge up ; and I should get a bullet through me if I tried to enter after nine o'clock . As I did not know the way , it was a hundred to one against my doing the two leagues in an hour . However , I would have preferred to die a thousand deaths rather than ask shelter of the man in Gazeau Tower , even had he granted it gracefully . My pride was bleeding more than my flesh .