ten o'clock in the evening
As for her companion , only his shadowy outline was distinguished leaning back in the dark . The carriage was going at a walking pace in a lonely drive behind the grand stand at Longchamp . Raoul dressed in frantic haste , prepared to forget his distress by flinging himself , as people say , into `` the vortex of pleasure . '' Alas , he was a very sorry guest and , leaving his brother early , found himself , by ten o'clock in the evening , in a cab , behind the Longchamp race-course . It was bitterly cold . The road seemed deserted and very bright under the moonlight . He told the driver to wait for him patiently at the corner of a near turning and , hiding himself as well as he could , stood stamping his feet to keep warm .