nine o'clock
`` And it was in this manner that the illustrious Cornaro lived from the age of thirty-six , so as to leave himself enough strength of body and mind to write his fourth treatise when he was eighty-five , and to live to a hundred and two . '' `` In that case , give me my fifth cutlet , '' said Pan Ghao , with a burst of laughter . There is nothing more agreeable than to talk before a well-served table ; but I must not forget to complete my notes regarding Kokham . We were not due there till nine o'clock , and that would be in the nighttime . And so I asked the major to give me some information regarding this town , which is the last of any importance in Russian Turkestan . `` I know it all the better , '' said the major , `` from having been in garrison there for fifteen months . It is a pity you have not time to visit it , for it remains very Asiatic , and there has not been time yet for it to grow a modern town .