nine o’clock
The head post-office , to which he had sent her because it was late , was two or three streets off , and he had made his request in the most general manner , which she had acceded to with alacrity enough . How could he have done such an unreflecting thing ? Pierston went to the window . It was half-past nine o'clock , and owing to her absence the blinds were not down . He opened the casement and stepped out upon the balcony . The green shade of his lamp screened its rays from the gloom without . Over the opposite square the moon hung , and to the right there stretched a long street , filled with a diminishing array of lamps , some single , some in clusters , among them an occasional blue or red one .