nine o'clock
It was neither a refusal nor an acceptance , and their hopes soared again , hers visibly , his secretly , to find it a friendly confession that the manager had not found time to read the play until the night before , and a request that Maxwell would drop in any day between twelve and one , which was rather a leisure time with him , and talk it over . `` Do n't lose an instant , dear ! '' she adjured him . `` It 's only nine o'clock , '' he answered , `` and I shall have to lose several instants . '' `` That is so , '' she lamented ; and then they began to canvas the probable intention of the manager 's note . She held out passionately to the end for the most encouraging interpretation of it , but she did not feel that it would have any malign effect upon the fact for him to say , `` Oh , it 's just a way of letting me down easy , '' and it clearly gave him great heart to say so . When he went off to meet his fate , she watched him , trembling , from the window ; as she saw him mounting the elevated steps , she wondered at his courage ; she had given him all her own .