Still not a show of life.

Of a sudden he stopped, reflected a moment, then looked at his watch.
"Ah," he murmured.

"I quite forget.

The terrapin, they are asleep.

It is ten-thirty, and the terrapin he regularly go to sleep at ten o'clock by the watch every night." And without another word he reached for the Veuve Cliquot! For all his volubility in matters of romance and sentiment The Major was exceeding reticent about his immediate self and his own affairs.
His legends referred to the distant of time and place.