nine o'clock
moreover , she promised me to do nothing unusual and to beware of traps . '' `` She has the feminine right to reconsider , '' Ranleigh reminded him . `` However , I 'll instruct the bureau to get busy and -- '' `` Wait until morning , '' Harleston interjected . `` If Mrs. Clephane has n't appeared by nine o'clock , I 'll telephone you . '' Harleston leaned back in his chair frowning . Washington was not a large city , yet under certain circumstances she could be lost in it -- and stay lost , with all the efforts of the police quite unavailing to find her . It seemed improbable that she had been abducted ; as Ranleigh had said , they had nothing to gain from her .