half past nine
`` Any courtesy , sir , which it is in our power to extend is at the service of your excellent principal . We agree to the proposed change of time . '' `` I beg you to accept the thanks of my client . '' Then he turned to a person behind him , and said , `` You hear , M. Noir , the hour is altered to half past nine . '' Whereupon M. Noir bowed , expressed his thanks , and went away . My accomplice continued : `` If agreeable to you , your chief surgeons and ours shall proceed to the field in the same carriage as is customary . '' `` It is entirely agreeable to me , and I am obliged to you for mentioning the surgeons , for I am afraid I should not have thought of them .