nearly nine o'clock
They watched him until the dark imprints of his receding steps in the thin snow-sheet could no longer be distinguished , and then Dan closed the door , shutting out the wide world and the fortune seeker . `` Things is quare and conthráry , '' he said to himself . Some two hours afterwards they were all sitting round the fire still . It was nearly nine o'clock , which is late in Lisconnel , but they found it hard to detach themselves from the cordial grasp of the warm glow . Bridget , however , had put by her needles , and begun to tell her beads , when another knock broke in upon them . `` He 's come back belike , '' said old O'Beirne ; but when Dan opened the door , the person who stood there , though likewise tall and gaunt and ragged , had grizzled black hair , and was not more than middle-aged . His face was hollow-cheeked and drawn , and his eyes glittered while he shivered and panted .