nine o'clock
Mrs. Rochester ! She did not exist : she would not be born till to-morrow , some time after eight o'clock a.m. ; and I would wait to be assured she had come into the world alive before I assigned to her all that property . It was enough that in yonder closet , opposite my dressing-table , garments said to be hers had already displaced my black stuff Lowood frock and straw bonnet : for not to me appertained that suit of wedding raiment ; the pearl-coloured robe , the vapoury veil pendent from the usurped portmanteau . I shut the closet to conceal the strange , wraith-like apparel it contained ; which , at this evening hour -- nine o'clock -- gave out certainly a most ghostly shimmer through the shadow of my apartment . `` I will leave you by yourself , white dream , '' I said . `` I am feverish : I hear the wind blowing : I will go out of doors and feel it . '' It was not only the hurry of preparation that made me feverish ; not only the anticipation of the great change -- the new life which was to commence to-morrow : both these circumstances had their share , doubtless , in producing that restless , excited mood which hurried me forth at this late hour into the darkening grounds : but a third cause influenced my mind more than they .