ten o'clock
This restored Winn even more quickly than it restored his luggage . No one followed him into the small stuffy omnibus which glided off swiftly toward its destination . The hotel was an ugly wooden house in the shape of a hive built out with balconies ; it reminded Winn of a gigantic bird-cage handsomely provided with perches . It was only ten o'clock , but the house was as silent as the mountains behind it . The landlord appeared , and , leading Winn into a brilliantly lighted , empty room , offered him cold meat . Winn said the kind of thing that any Staines would feel called upon to say on arriving at a cold place at a late hour and being confronted with cold meat . The landlord apologized in a whisper , and returned after some delay with soup .