A quarter to nine
He tried not to wake her as he dressed , though there was no danger of that : and when he had done he sat in the chair near the window and watched the steaming smoking river which looked as though it were covered with ice : and he fell into a brown study in which there hovered music , pastoral , melancholy . From time to time she half opened her eyes and looked at him vaguely , took a second or two , smiled at him , and passed from one sleep to another . She asked him the time . `` A quarter to nine . '' Half asleep she pondered : `` What ! Can it be a quarter to nine ? '' At half-past nine she stretched , sighed , and said that she was going to get up .