about nine o'clock
`` I 'm the loser , and we dock to-morrow morning . So tonight I 've got to make my killing . '' It was the others who made the killing . I came into the smoking-room about nine o'clock . Talbot alone was seated . The others were on their feet , and behind them in a wider semicircle were passengers , the smoking-room stewards and the ship 's purser . Talbot sat with his back against the bulkhead , his hands in the pockets of his dinner coat ; from the corner of his mouth his long cigarette-holder was cocked at an impudent angle .