nine o'clock
The vision of Miss Skillern performing such an operation as she had described cut its horror on her mind . There was a sinking at her heart and a misty threat of tears . To avert this she walked slowly away . It was hardly past nine o'clock ; her mother would n't be back for a long while , and she was too restless and unhappy to sit quietly above . Instead , she continued down to the floor where there were various games in the corridor leading to the billiard-room . The hall was dull , no one was clicking the balls about the green tables , and a solitary sick-looking man , with inky shadows under fixed eyes , was smoking a cigarette in a chair across from the cigar-stand . He looked over a thick magazine in a chocolate cover , his gaze arrested by her irresolute passage .