about ten
o'clock
Mr. Crocker smirked modestly . Plot is only as strong as its weakest link . The best-laid schemes of mice and men gang agley if one of the mice is a mental defective or if one of the men is a Jerry Mitchell ... . Celestine , Mrs. Pett 's maid -- she who was really Maggie O'Toole and whom Jerry loved with a strength which deprived him of even that small amount of intelligence which had been bestowed upon him by Nature -- came into the house-keeper 's room at about ten o'clock that night . The domestic staff had gone in a body to the moving-pictures , and the only occupant of the room was the new parlourmaid , who was sitting in a hard chair , reading Schopenhauer . Celestine 's face was flushed , her dark hair was ruffled , and her eyes were shining . She breathed a little quickly , and her left hand was out of sight behind her back .