nearly a quarter past eight
Secretly , Ellen Blackburne planned some day to write a volume of reminiscences , and she had a `` feeling , '' as she sat in discreet silence beside Roger Sands in his car , that to-night she would get material for particularly good notes . She was conscious that his nerves were tensely strung . `` It 's just as if he were sitting in a thunder cloud charged full of electricity , with me getting some of the shocks , '' she told herself , thinking of her notebook , where she would make entries when she got home . It was nearly a quarter past eight when Roger 's latch-key opened the door of his apartment . Miss Blackburne was impressed , not only by the magnificence of the hall , but by the originality of its decoration . Roger , having let himself and the pearl-stringer in with his latch-key , regretted that he had done so . He did not want to see Beverley alone just then .