nearly one o'clock
Next day I told Valentine , but she merely smiled , saying that Rosalie could know nothing , and the fellow was probably some secret lover . The next night , and the next , I watched , until , on the third evening , they met again at the same time and place , and on that occasion I followed the mysterious stranger . He was a thin , cadaverous-looking Frenchman , hollow-cheeked , rather shabbily dressed , and wore _ pince-nez _ . I watched him back into the town , and lingered near him in a café until nearly one o'clock , when he entered his quarters at an uninviting , unfashionable hotel , the `` Falcon , '' in the Via Vittorio . From the manner he had treated her I judged him to be a relation , probably her uncle . Yet why she should meet him clandestinely was an utter mystery . In order still to keep watch upon the maid I made a fervent protest of affection , and frequently met her between the dinner-hour and midnight .