one o’clock before
`` It is but a day sin ' I were young , '' replied Peggy ; but she stopped the conversation by again pushing the cup with gentle force to Susan 's dry and thirsty lips . When she had drunken she fell again to her labour , Peggy heating the hearth , and doing all that she knew would be required , but never speaking another word . Willie basked close to the fire , enjoying the animal luxury of warmth , for the autumn evenings were beginning to be chilly . It was one o'clock before they thought of going to bed on that memorable night . THE vehemence with which Susan Dixon threw herself into occupation could not last for ever . Times of languor and remembrance would come -- times when she recurred with a passionate yearning to bygone days , the recollection of which was so vivid and delicious , that it seemed as though it were the reality , and the present bleak bareness the dream . She smiled anew at the magical sweetness of some touch or tone which in memory she felt and heard , and drank the delicious cup of poison , although at the very time she knew what the consequences of racking pain would be .