twenty minutes past eleven
The door was closed . The carriage rolled heavily away through the yielding snow . The porter shut the street door , the windows became dark . Hermann began walking up and down near the deserted house ; at length he stopped under a lamp , and glanced at his watch : it was twenty minutes past eleven . He remained standing under the lamp , his eyes fixed upon the watch impatiently waiting for the remaining minutes to pass . At half-past eleven precisely Hermann ascended the steps of the house and made his way into the brightly - illuminated vestibule . The porter was not there .