half after ten
`` It is that , '' I agreed soberly . Hotchkiss and I arrived in Washington late that evening , and , rather than arouse the household , I went to the club . I was at the office early the next morning and admitted myself . McKnight rarely appeared before half after ten , and our modest office force some time after nine . I looked over my previous day 's mail and waited , with such patience as I possessed , for McKnight . In the interval I called up Mrs. Klopton and announced that I would dine at home that night . What my household subsists on during my numerous absences I have never discovered .