nearly ten
o'clock
The iron gate clicked . He was gone . Cuckoo cast an oblique glance up at the stars before she shut the door , and retraced her steps down the passage . When Julian left the Marylebone Road that night it was nearly ten o'clock . He was quite sober , and looked preternaturally grave as he opened the little gate and stepped out into the frost-bound street . In the lighted aperture of the doorway behind him Cuckoo stood like a shadow half revealed peeping after him , and he turned and waved his hand to her . Then he walked away slowly , meditating .