about one o'clock
So far , they had been too much left to Kitty . Ashe promised his mother to look into them . He and she combined for the protection of Lord Parham . When about one o'clock Ashe went to bed , Kitty either was or pretended to be fast asleep . The room was in darkness save for the faint illumination of a night-light , which just revealed to Ashe the delicate figure of his wife , lying high on her pillows , her cheek and brow hidden in the confusion of her hair . One window was wide open to the night , and once more Ashe stood lost in `` recollection '' beside it , as on that night in Hill Street , more than a year before . But the thoughts which on that former occasion had been still as tragic and unfamiliar guests in a mind that repelled them had now , alack , lost their strangeness ; they entered habitually , unannounced -- frequent , irritating , deplorable .