nine o'clock
He had distinguished himself in the public view , for to Jerry , as to the white people themselves , the white people were the public . He had won the goodwill of the best people , and had already begun to reap a tangible reward . It is true that several strange white men looked at him with lowering brows as he crossed the street , which was curiously empty of colored people ; but he nevertheless went firmly forward , panoplied in the consciousness of his own rectitude , and serenely confident of the protection of the major and the major 's friends . `` Jerry is about the only negro I have seen since nine o'clock , '' observed the general when the porter had gone . `` If this were election day , where would the negro vote be ? '' `` In hiding , where most of the negro population is to-day , '' answered McBane . `` It 's a pity , if old Mrs. Ochiltree had to go this way , that it could n't have been deferred a month or six weeks . ''