eleven o'clock
There was more solid ground than mere confidence in his destiny behind Shelby 's bold front . The earliest mail delivery had shed a glimmer of hope in the shape of a midnight note from Mrs. Hilliard . He did not require her reminder that the voting strength of Little Poland was no longer to be counted in his column -- he had thought and fought that out in the small hours ; but he did need and pounced upon the statement that Little Poland 's master would be out of town the greater part of election day . The scrawl ended with an appointment for a clandestine meeting at eleven o'clock , toward which he now bent his steps on leaving Ruth . Mrs. Hilliard had named a cemetery on the immediate outskirts as the rendezvous -- a choice on whose evil omen Shelby wasted no thought . In the heyday of their flirtation he and Mrs. Hilliard had made frequent use of it as a Platonic trysting-place , and he climbed the silent paths toward the summit of the mount , as it was styled in that level land , with no sentiment save approval of her wisdom in seizing upon the one spot in all New Babylon whose privacy was certain . Mrs. Hilliard , shivering in the lee of a pretentious granite shaft which bore her family name , was more susceptible .