quarter to eleven
`` I shall need no compass to find my way back , '' replied Ayrault , `` if I ever succeed in leaving this planet ; neither will star-charts be necessary , for you will be a magnet stronger than any compass , and , compared with my star , all others are dim . '' `` You should write a book , '' said Sylvia , `` and put some of those things in it . '' She was wearing a bunch of forget-me-nots and violets that she had cut from a small flower-garden of potted plants Ayrault had sent her , which she had placed in her father 's conservatory . At this moment the small chime clock set in the Callisto 's wood-work rang out quarter to eleven . As the sounds died away , Sylvia became very pale , and began to regret in her womanly way that she had allowed her hero to attempt this experiment . `` Oh , '' she said , clinging to his arm , `` it was very wrong of me to let you begin this . I was so dazzled by the splendour of your scheme when I heard it , and so anxious that you should have the glory of being the first to surpass Columbus , that I did not realize the full meaning .