twelve o'clock at night
In many little ways the old life that she thought she had left behind in Hanley began to reappear , and when Dick came into the room and found her reading a novel by the fire she reminded him of Ralph 's wife rather than of his own . While she was touring in the country she had given up reading without being aware that she had done so . She had once bought a copy of the _ Family Herald _ , hoping that it would help away the time on the long railway journey , but having herself come into a life of passion , energy and infinite variety , she could not follow with any interest the story of three young ladies in reduced circumstances who had started a dressmaking business and who were destined clearly to marry the men they loved and who loved them and who would continue to love them long after the silver threads had appeared among the gold . But now in the long lonely days spent with her baby in the lodging -LRB- Dick went away early in the morning and sometimes did not return till twelve o'clock at night -RRB- , a story in a copy of _ The Family Herald _ lent to her by the landlady , on the whole a very kind and patient soul , took hold of Kate 's imagination , and when she raised her eyes a tear of joy fell upon the page , and in the effusion of these sensations she would take her little girl and press it almost wildly to her breast . Before leaving , the nurse had given Kate many directions . The baby was to have its bath in the morning ; to be kept thoroughly clean , and to be given the bottle at certain times during the day and night . Kate was devoted to her child , but the attention she gave it was unsustained , a desultory attention .