nine o'clock
If she was -- But Edward Lynde had put the question out of his thought that night as he walked home from the cafe . His two bars of opera music lasted him to the hotel steps . Though it was late -- a great bell somewhere , striking two , sent its rich reverberation across the lake while he was unlocking his chamber door -- Lynde seated himself at a table and wrote his note to the Denhams . Flemming had promised to come and take coffee with him early the next morning , that is to say at nine o'clock . Before Flemming arrived , Lynde 's invitation had been despatched and accepted . He was re-reading Miss Denham 's few lines of acceptance when he heard his friend , at the other end of the hall , approaching with great strides . `` The thousandth part of a minute late ! ''