nine o’clock
` Has any one called ? ' I explained , with apologies , that my servant had summoned me into the drawing-room on a false alarm ; or that some loafer had tried to call on Strickland , and thinking better of it had fled after giving his name . Strickiand ordered dinner , without comment , and since it was a real dinner with a white tablecloth attached , we sat down . At nine o'clock Strickland wanted to go to bed , and I was tired too . Tietjens , who had been lying underneath the table , rose up , and swung into the least exposed verandah as soon as her master moved to his own room , which was next to the stately chamber set apart for Tietjens . If a mere wife had wished to sleep out of doors in that pelting rain it would not have mattered ; but Tietjens was a dog , and therefore the better animal . I looked at Strickland , expecting to see him flay her with a whip .