Nine o'clock
Henry Denvil was not of an imaginative temperament ; his prime had been too fully occupied for idle reveries ; but now solitude was rendering him sensitive to morbid influences . When he awoke he became vividly , intensely conscious of the gaze of this picture fixed on himself . He sat motionless , and studied it , instead of going out . Nine o'clock . A tap at the door , and M. Jacques Robin stood on the threshold , deferential in manner , wet as to garments , having awaited his guest for an hour . Henry Denvil laughed loudly , almost roughly , seized his hat , and sought the village tavern . The play was reckless that night .