the hour of nine
And only twenty minutes remained to me . If I had not had the good luck to meet Dubois ! I must have noticed a clock somewhere during the minute that I was in the château , and though I had not been conscious of it , the after-image loomed before my eyes . As I ran now I could see a huge phantom clock , the dial marked with enormous Roman letters , and the hands moving with dreadful swiftness toward the hour of nine . I had underestimated Leroux 's shrewdness . He must have telegraphed instructions from New York before my train was out of the county , secured the boat , laid his plans during his journey northward , and had me struck down while Jacqueline was stolen from my care . And he had spared no details , even to enlisting the aid of Père Antoine .