nine o'clock
But so it was ; she prayed in despair and agony of mind , and the prayer carried on the wild wings of the night brought a fulfilment with it . Not in vain were her tears and supplications , for even now the deliverer delved among `` The dust and awful treasures of the dead , '' and even now the light of her happiness was breaking on her tortured night as the cold gleams of the Christmas morning were breaking over the fury of the storm without . And then , chilled and numb in body and mind , she crept into her bed again and at last lost herself in sleep . By half-past nine o'clock , when Ida came down to breakfast , the gale had utterly gone , though its footprints were visible enough in shattered trees , unthatched stacks , and ivy torn in knotty sheets from the old walls it clothed . It would have been difficult to recognise in the cold and stately lady who stood at the dining-room window , noting the havoc and waiting for her father to come in , the lovely , passionate , dishevelled woman who some few hours before had thrown herself upon her knees praying to God for the succour she could not win from man . Women , like nature , have many moods and many aspects to express them . The hot fit had passed , and the cold fit was on her now .