nearly eleven
o'clock
`` Meanwhile there 's a new ` Life ' and a July ` Century , ' -- you know where , '' and with a final smile she was gone . Four months had drifted by ; again the University was in full swing . Of an evening in late October at this time , in the common living-room which joined the two private rooms in the suite occupied by himself and Darley Roberts , Stephen Armstrong was alone . It was now nearly eleven o'clock , and he had come in directly after dinner , ample time to have prepared his work for the next day ; but as yet he had made no move in that direction . On the roll-top desk , with its convenient drop light , was an armful of reference books and two late scientific magazines . They were still untouched , however , bound tight by the strap with which they had been carried . But one sign of his prolonged presence was visible in the room .