about nine o'clock in the evening
Then his lost confidence came back to him slowly , and banished the unjust doubts . Hartmut was atoning now for his boyish folly . As for the rest , his mother , and she alone , was to blame . It was about nine o'clock in the evening when the prince left his quarters in order to visit the commandant . He did not go on an affair of service , but in answer to an invitation from the general , who had been an old friend of his father , and had looked after the son , since the campaign began , with fatherly solicitude . Egon would have given much to be alone this evening , for his meeting with Hartmut had moved him deeply , but a soldier has little time for brooding , and an invitation from a commanding officer must not be set aside . As the young prince went into the house he met an adjutant coming out , who explained breathlessly that there was bad news , but that the general would tell him all .