eleven o'clock
I had seen that Constance 's parting with my brother had been tender , and I am not sure that she was not in tears during some part at least of our drive ; but I did not observe her closely , having my thoughts elsewhere . Though we were thus being carried every moment further from the sleeping city , where I believe that both our hearts were busy , I feel as if I had been a personal witness of the incidents I am about to narrate , so often have I heard them from my brother 's lips . The two young men , after parting with us in the High Street , returned to their respective colleges . John reached his rooms shortly before eleven o'clock . He was at once sad and happy -- sad at our departure , but happy in a new-found world of delight which his admiration for Constance Temple opened to him . He was , in fact , deeply in love with her , and the full flood of a hitherto unknown passion filled him with an emotion so overwhelming that his ordinary life seemed transfigured . He moved , as it were , in an ether superior to our mortal atmosphere , and a new region of high resolves and noble possibilities spread itself before his eyes .