nine o'clock
I 'll never forgive Sally for deserting me . '' She could have filled the house with company , but that would have meant late hours and the sacrifice of such solitude as she now could command . She had always disliked the burden of entertaining in summer , never more so than during this , when her loneliest hours were , with the exception of just fifteen others and twenty-one minutes , the happiest she ever had known . Jack and Harriet manifested not the slightest desire to be together , and Betty went to bed at nine o'clock , wondering if she were not boring herself unnecessarily . She was deep in her first sleep when her consciousness struggled toward an unaccustomed sound . She awoke suddenly at the last , and became aware of a low , continuous , but peremptory knocking . She lit a candle at once and opened the door .