eleven o'clock
A little while ago I had been ready to seize upon almost any expedient for keeping Raoul away from my house to-night , but now , after what I had just heard from Godensky , I prayed to see him waiting for me . Nobody -LRB- except Ivor , concerning whom I 'd given orders -RRB- would be let in so late at night , during my absence , not even Raoul himself ; so if he had come to reproach me , or break with me , he would have to stand outside the locked gate till I appeared . I looked for him longingly , but he was not there . There was , to be sure , a motor brougham in the street , for a wonder -LRB- usually the Rue d'Hollande is as empty as a desert , after eleven o'clock -RRB- , but a girl 's face peered out at me from the window -- an impish , curiously abnormal little face it was -- extinguishing the spark of hope that sprang to life as I caught sight of the carriage . It was standing before the closed gate of a house almost opposite mine , and the girl seemed somewhat interested in me ; but I was not at all interested in her , and I hate being stared at as if I were something in a museum . The gate is always kept locked at night , when I 'm at the theatre ; but Marianne has the key , and we let ourselves in when we come , for only old Henri sits up , and he is growing a little deaf . A moment , and we were inside , the chauffeur spinning away to the garage .