six o'clock
She was marketing a commodity for which there was no demand . She lunched at a Konditorei , more to rest her tired body than because she needed food . The afternoon was as the morning . At six o'clock , long after the midwinter darkness had fallen , she stumbled back to the Wollbadgasse and up the whitewashed staircase . She had a shock at the second landing . A man had stepped into the angle to let her pass . A gasjet dared over his head , and she recognized the short heavy figure and ardent eyes of Georgiev .