nine o'clock
`` My friend , '' replied the poet , `` prepare yourself forthwith for ` a New and Powerful Serial of the Most Absorbing Interest ' ! I am no longer the young man who went out this evening -- I am a celebrity . '' `` I thought , '' said the composer , `` that it could n't be you when I saw the cigar . '' `` Figure yourself , '' continued Tricotrin , `` that at nine o'clock I was wandering on the Grand Boulevard with a thirst that could have consumed a brewery . I might mention that I had also empty pockets , but -- '' `` It would be to pad the powerful Serial shamelessly , '' said Pitou : `` there are things that one takes for granted . '' `` At the corner of the place de l'Opera a fellow passed me whom I knew and yet did not know ; I could not recall where it was we had met . I turned and followed him , racking my brains the while .