nine o'clock
`` I think if I had the naming of the animals over again , this morning , I should n't call snakes ` snakes ' ; should you , Eve ? '' laughed Basil in intricate acknowledgment of his happiness . `` O no , Adam ; we 'd look out all the most graceful euphemisms in the newspapers , and we would n't hurt the feelings of a spider . '' They had waited to see Leonard , in order that they might learn better how to find his house in the country ; and now , when they came in upon him at nine o'clock , he welcomed them with all his friendly heart . He rose from the pile of morning 's letters to which he had but just sat down ; he placed them the easiest chairs ; he made a feint of its not being a busy hour with him , and would have had them look upon his office , which was still damp and odorous from the porter 's broom , as a kind of down-town parlor ; but after they had briefly accounted to his amazement for their appearance then and there , and Isabel had boasted of the original fashion in which they had that morning seen New York , they took pity on him , and bade him adieu till evening . They crossed from Broadway to the noisome street by the ferry , and in a little while had taken their places in the train on the other side of the water . `` Do n't tell me , Basil , '' said Isabel , `` that Leonard travels fifty miles every day by rail going to and from his work ! ''