ten o'clock
If he slipped some up his sleeve , I must make it my business to spot the trick and its meaning for the Becketts . As I offered this sop to my conscience , I could almost hear O'Farrell saying , with one of his young laughs , `` That 's right . Set a thief to catch a thief ! '' At ten o'clock we were to start for Nancy via Commercy , so there would be little time to reflect , and to act on top of reflection ; but my strait being desperate , I resolved to trust to luck ; and to be first on the field of battle , I knocked at Brian 's door at half-past eight . He was already dressed , and to look at his neat cravat and smoothly brushed hair no one would have guessed that his toilet had been made by a blind man . We had not yet exchanged opinions of the O'Farrell family , and I had come early to get his impressions . They were always as accurate and quickly built up as his sketches ; but since he has been blind , he seems almost clairvoyant .