eleven o'clock
He muttered some kind of a prayer in Gaelic as I passed , and at the sound of the once familiar tongue I stopped , and , bending over him , wiped away the perspiration , and spake to him in his own language . He stared at me in the utmost astonishment , and then swore a great oath , and the tears filled his eyes . I at last found a soldier who was not on duty , and by him sent a message to Captain Nairn that a lady desired speech with him when he was at liberty . He returned with word that the Captain fixed eleven o'clock , and at that hour I awaited in the parlour . As I waited I wondered that I had ever made any question of meeting him ; I could even see that his choice of life had its defence , from a man 's point of view . A soldier is first of all a soldier , and waiting the heaviest of his duties ; though he is ready to suffer incredibly for his cause when it is active , it is the women who keep the personal attachments alive through the weary days when everything but hope is dead . I spake at once on his entrance .