nine o'clock
Being at this time only nine years old , I could not , of course , appreciate the gravity of the situation . But I was quite aware that those I loved were in trouble . It was brought home to me more convincingly by one little incident than by anything else . It was nine o'clock on a winter 's night . Snow was falling , and the palace courtyard was covered with a white mantle . According to custom , Max and I had been to our mother 's room to bid her good-night , and had crossed the great hall on our way to our own apartments , when , at the top of the grand staircase , we met the Prime Minister , Count von Marquart , ascending . As a rule we were afraid of him ; his manner was harsh and overbearing , and it had been wittily observed that there were only two persons in the world , the Count von Marquart and himself , with whom he was on terms of anything approaching intimacy .