nearly ten o'clock
She shuddered a little as the cold dews gathered on her , for she was a woman nursed in luxury 's lap ; but she never moved . The silence was dismal . Had that wild boy forgotten his promise , or were there no parents in the village , that their feet lagged so ? It was nearly ten o'clock , when her keen ears , strained to the utmost , discovered a faint buzzing of voices ; but where she could not tell . The sounds increased and increased , and then there was a temporary silence ; and after that a faint hallooing in the wood to her right . The wood was five hundred acres , and the bulk of it lay in front and to her left . The hallooing got louder and louder ; the whole wood seemed to echo ; her heart beat high ; lights glimmered nearer and nearer , hares and rabbits pattered by and startled her , and pheasants thundered off their roosts with an incredible noise , owls flitted , and bats innumerable , disturbed and terrified by the glaring lights and loud resounding halloos .