ten o'clock
He had known her ; he had not asked for Elizabeth , but only for David ; he looked tired and thin , but well . She stood at the window watching Elizabeth go down the hill , with a feeling that she had just seen something die before her . On the night Bassett and Harrison Miller were to return from Chicago Lucy sat downstairs in her sitting-room waiting for news . At ten o'clock , according to her custom , she went up to see that David was comfortable for the night , and to read him that prayer for the absent with which he always closed his day of waiting . But before she went she stopped before the old mirror in the hall , to see if she wore any visible sign of tension . The door into Dick 's office was open , and on his once neat desk there lay a litter of papers and letters . She sighed and went up the stairs .