nearly ten o'clock
I 'm afraid there 'll be a lot of gossip . '' `` Well , it was n't your fault , '' said Dorothy carelessly . Sir Tancred grew more and more unhappy . His watch told him that it was nearly ten o'clock , and there was no sign of the _ Petrel _ . Moreover , the sense of their aloofness from the world had taken a firmer hold on him , and it drew him and Dorothy nearer and nearer together . The feeling that the world , of which her money had grown the symbol , would again come between them , grew more and more intolerable . At last it grew too strong for him , and he stopped before her and said , in a voice he could not keep firm , `` About that wasted life of mine , Dorothy .