ten o'clock
Very well , then . '' When Captain Armitage left the cottage that night he did not go at once to his own room . Brief as was the conversation he had enjoyed with Miss Renwick , it was all that Fate vouchsafed him for that date at least . The entire party went to tea together at the hotel , but immediately thereafter the colonel carried Armitage away , and for two long hours they were closeted over some letters that had come from Sibley , and when the conference broke up and the wondering ladies saw the two men come forth it was late , -- almost ten o'clock , -- and the captain did not venture beyond the threshold of the sitting-room . He bowed and bade them a somewhat ceremonious good-night . His eyes rested -- lingered -- on Miss Renwick 's uplifted face , and it was the picture he took with him into the stillness of the summer night . The colonel accompanied him to the steps , and rested his hand upon the broad gray shoulder .