five in the morning
Does not everybody know that one 's natural impulse is to tear the absent limb from limb ? At half-past nine I got up , worn out in mind and body , and told him very firmly that it had been a custom in my family from time immemorial to be in bed by ten , and that I was accordingly going there . He looked surprised and wider awake than ever , but nothing shook me , and I walked away , leaving him standing on the hearthrug after the manner of my countrymen , who never dream of opening a door for a woman . The next day he went off at five in the morning , and was to be away , as he had told me , till the evening . I felt as though I had been let out of prison as I breakfasted joyfully on the verandah , the sun streaming through the creeperless trellis on to the little meal , and the first cuckoo of the year calling to me from the fir wood . Of the dinner and evening before me I would not think ; indeed I had a half-formed plan in my head of going to the forest after lunch with the babies , taking wraps and provisions , and getting lost till well on towards bedtime ; so that when the angel-visitant should return full of renewed strength and conversation , he would find the casket empty and be told the gem had gone out for a walk . After I had finished breakfast I ran down the steps into the garden , intent on making the most of every minute and hardly able to keep my feet from dancing .