nine o'clock
The little cabman was better than his word , but on the short drive to the hotel he found time to work out a small problem , not entirely to his satisfaction , but to at least a partial conclusion . '' 'T is the divil 's own self he is , and there 's nothing left av him but thim eyes and that scar on his forrud , and his manner of spakin ' . But thim I 'd swear to if I 'd live to be as old as Father M'Guinness -- rest his sowl . '' All things considered , it was the Griswold of the college-graduate days -- the days of the slender patrimony which had capitalized the literary beginning -- who presented himself at the counter of the Hotel Chouteau at half-past nine o'clock on the evening of the _ Belle Julie 's _ arrival at St. Louis , wrote his name in the guest-book , and permitted an attentive bell-boy to relieve him of his two suit-cases . The clerk , a rotund little man with a promising bald spot and a permanent smile , had appraised his latest guest in the moment of book-signing , and the result was a small triumph for the Olive Street furnishing house . Next to the genuinely tailor-made stands the quality of verisimilitude ; and the keynote of the clerk 's greeting was respectful affability . `` Glad to have you with us , Mr. Griswold .