nine o'clock
Upon an undistinguished looking side door she knocked gently , distinctly , three times . It opened as if by magic , and , like a shadow , she slipped into the darkness behind it . Harlenden was a little early . Rosanne had said nine o'clock , and it wanted , perhaps , twenty minutes to the hour when he rang at Tiptree House and was told by Maria , after a few moments ' waiting , that she could not find Miss Rosanne anywhere . `` Very well ; I 'll wait here , '' he said , and , lighting a cigar , sat down in one of the deep chairs in the dimly lighted veranda . He was a lean , fair , well-groomed man , with a hard-cut face that told nothing . You had to make your own deductions from a pair of stone-grey eyes , a mouth close-lipped without being cold , and a manner not wanting in indications of arrogance that yet pleased by a certain careless grace and sureness .