ten o'clock
It would have taken them to Ghent but for the owner 's powerful objection to their eating any meal off the yacht . Seemingly he had a great and sincere horror of local viands and particularly of local water . He was their slave ; they might demand anything from him ; he was the very symbol of hospitality and chivalry , but somehow they could not compass a meal away from the yacht . Similarly , he would have them leave the Kursaal not later than ten o'clock , when the evening had not veritably begun . They did not clearly understand by what means he imposed his will , but he imposed it . The departure from Ostend was accomplished after the glass had begun to rise , but before it had finished rising , and there were apprehensions in the saloon and out of it , when the spectacle of the open sea , and the feel of it under the feet , showed that , as of old , water was still unstable . The process of moral decadence would have set in once more but for the prudence and presence of mind of Audrey , who had laid in a large stock of the specific which had been of such notable use to herself and Miss Ingate on previous occasions .