ten o'clock
Then let 's go and turn in ; it 's getting late in the night . '' Two days after the supper at Chaudière 's and the clearing of the fruit steamer _ Adelantado _ for the banana coast , or , more specifically , in the forenoon of the second day , the unimpetuous routine of the business quarter of New Orleans was rudely disturbed by the shock of a genuine sensation . To shatter at a single blow the most venerable of the routine precedents , the sensational thing chose for its colliding point with orderly system one of the oldest and most conservative of the city 's banks : the Bayou State Security . At ten o'clock , following the precise habit of half a lifetime , Mr. Andrew Galbraith , president of the Bayou State , entered his private room in the rear of the main banking apartment , opened his desk , and addressed himself to the business of the day . Punctually at ten-five , the stenographer , whose desk was in the anteroom , brought in the mail ; five minutes later the cashier entered for his morning conference with his superior ; and at half-past the hour the president was left alone to read his correspondence . Being a man whose mental processes were all serious , and whose hobby was method , Mr. Galbraith had established a custom of giving himself a quiet half-hour of inviolable seclusion in which to read and consider his mail . During this sacred interval the stenographer , standing guard in the outer office , had instructions to deny his chief to callers of any and every degree .