nine
o'clock
But that , after all , was natural , for his last four nights had been wakeful , his last four days full of anxiety and suspense . He turned and looked out of the window , wondering where they were , how far they had gone ; the train was travelling very quickly , he could see white tree-trunks rushing past him in the moonlight . Then Vanderlyn took out his watch . Surely it must be later than nine o'clock ? He moved from the window and held the dial close under the blue silk shade of the lamp . Why , it was only three minutes to nine ! Then they had n't yet passed Dorgival ; in fact they would n't be there for another twenty minutes , for this train took two hours to do what the quick expresses accomplished in an hour and a quarter .