nine o’clock
We might have talked of Emily , if she had not left me in such a hurry . When shall I see her again ? '' He was destined to see her again , that night -- under circumstances which he remembered to the end of his life . The rules of Netherwoods , in summer time , recalled the young ladies from their evening 's recreation in the grounds at nine o'clock . After that hour , Alban was free to smoke his pipe , and to linger among trees and flower-beds before he returned to his hot little rooms in the village . As a relief to the drudgery of teaching the young ladies , he had been using his pencil , when the day 's lessons were over , for his own amusement . It was past ten o'clock before he lighted his pipe , and began walking slowly to and fro on the path which led to the summer-house , at the southern limit of the grounds .