eleven o'clock
So saying , I turned -LRB- somewhat hastily -RRB- and went my way ; but after I had gone some distance I glanced back to behold them watching me , motionless and side by side ; hereupon , moved by their wistful attitude , I forgot my dignity and , whipping off my hat , I flourished it to them above my head ere a bend in the drive hid them from my view . I went at a good , round pace , being determined to cover as much distance as possible ere dawn , since I felt assured that so soon as my indomitable aunt Julia discovered my departure she would immediately head a search party in quest of me ; for which cogent reason I determined to abandon the high road as soon as possible and go by less frequented byways . A distant church clock chimed the hour and , pausing to hearken , I thrilled as I counted eleven , for , according to the laws which had ordered my life hitherto , at this so late hour I should have been blissfully asleep between lavender-scented sheets . Indeed my loved aunt abhorred the night air for me , under the delusion that I suffered from a delicate chest ; yet here was I out upon the open road and eleven o'clock chiming in my ears . Thus as I strode on into the unknown I experienced an exhilarating sense of high adventure unknown till now . It was a night of brooding stillness and the moon , high-risen , touched the world about me with her magic , whereby things familiar became transformed into objects of wonder ; tree and hedgerow took on shapes strange and fantastic ; the road became a gleaming causeway whereon I walked , godlike , master of my destiny . Beyond meadow and cornfield to right and left gloomed woods , remote and full of mystery , in whose enchanted twilight elves and fairies might have danced or slender dryads peeped and sported .