a quarter to nine
He thought it just possible that Ravengar might have committed a crime , or several crimes , and that Camilla might have knowledge of them , but the question whether Ravengar was or was not a criminal appeared to him to be a little off the point . The unique point was his own prospects with Camilla . It may be said that he felt capable of shielding her from forty Ravengars . He had torn prudence to shreds , and stamped on it , that morning , and had gone down boldly and directly to Department 42 at a quarter to nine , in order to meet Camilla . And she had not then arrived . He had then conceived the idea of , and the excuse for , a visit to the common room , through which every assistant was obliged to pass on her way to the receipt of custom . In the whole history of Hugo 's a poster had never before been known to be posted on a mirror , which is utterly the wrong place for a poster , but Hugo had chosen the mirror as the field of his labours solely that he might surreptitiously observe every soul that entered the room .