eight o'clock
`` Work ! It 's a nasty word , Knox . Are you doing anything now ? '' `` Nothing , until eight o'clock , when I have an appointment . '' `` Come along to my place , '' he suggested , `` and have a cup of tea , or a whisky and soda if you prefer it . '' Probably I should have refused , but even as he spoke I was mentally translated to the lounge of the Hotel de l'Europe , and prompted by a very human curiosity I determined to accept his invitation . I wondered if Fate had thrown an opportunity in my way of learning the end of the peculiar story which had been related on that occasion .