eleven o'clock
Marie made many delays : she dressed slowly , and must run back to see if the balcony door was securely closed . At a little shop where they stopped to buy mountain sticks she must purchase postcards and send them at once . Stewart was fairly patient : air and exercise were having their effect . It was eleven o'clock when , having crossed the valley , they commenced to mount the slope of the Sonnwendstein . The climb was easy ; the road wound back and forward on itself so that one ascended with hardly an effort . Stewart gave Marie a hand here and there , and even paused to let her sit on a boulder and rest . The snow was not heavy ; he showed her the footprints of a party that had gone ahead , and to amuse her tried to count the number of people .