nine o'clock
Everlastingly he consulted his watch . His appetite failed , the hand that too often carried a glass to his lips shook so that drops of wine spattered the cloth like blood ; he could not even keep a cigarette alive , but burned more matches than tobacco . A heavy sweat bedewed his forehead ; the ruddy colour of that plump countenance grew sadly faded , the good-natured features drawn and pinched with worry . By nine o'clock the man was hag-ridden by fear of the unknown , by terror of learning what fault had developed in the calculations of his confrères . Efforts to fix his mind on an evening newspaper failed miserably . And this was not for lack of interest in the news it published to the citizens of Lyons . For Lanyard had a copy of the same sheet , and knew that Eve had loyally kept her promise ; a brief despatch from Millau told of the simultaneous disappearance of one André Duchemin and the jewels of Madame de Montalais , and added that the police were already active in the case .