nine o’clock
I watched her in the starlight until a bend in the path hid her swift-moving figure . Down through the passage I hastened , her lantern lighting my way . At the Door of Bewilderment I closed the opening , setting up the line of wall as we had left it in the afternoon , and then I went back to the library , freshened the fire and brooded before it until Bates came to relieve me at dawn . It was nine o'clock . A thermometer on the terrace showed the mercury clinging stubbornly to a point above zero ; but the still air was keen and stimulating , and the sun argued for good cheer in a cloudless sky . We had swallowed some breakfast , though I believe no one had manifested an appetite , and we were cheering ourselves with the idlest talk possible . Stoddard , who had been to the chapel for his usual seven o'clock service , was deep in the pocket Greek testament he always carried .