quarter past nine
On the boarded floor was a remnant of linoleum . Against one wall was a narrow staircase . It was the breakfast things that Nellie had been helping to wash up . The little American clock on the sideboard indicated quarter past nine . Nellie went to the front door , opened it , and stood looking out . The view was a limited one , a short narrow side street , blinded at one end by a high bare stone wall , bounded at the other by the almost as narrow by-thoroughfare this side street branched from . The houses in the thoroughfare were three-storied , and a number wore used as shops of the huckstering variety , mainly by Chinese .