nine o'clock
Her mother would , no doubt , prepare her in a way for the crash , but there always would be the memory of the cruel blow that might have been prevented . He crossed into Madison Square , taking a seat where he could watch the entrance to his hotel , though the hour was so early that it seemed sheer folly to expect Dick Cronk . A dozen times in the first half-hour he looked at his watch . Would the hands never reach nine o'clock ? He knew that Dick would make his approach slyly . Perhaps if he returned to his room he would find him there . It would not be an unusual circumstance , he recalled .