About one o'clock
They were all alike . The shillings in gigantic figures of red or black , and across the dividing line elevenpence three-farthings pencilled in strokes as modest as the shy violet . When Jonah reached Cardigan Street , he was preoccupied and silent , and sat on the veranda , smoking in the dark , long after Ada and her mother had gone to bed . About one o'clock Mrs Yabsley , who was peacefully ironing shirts in her sleep , was awakened by a loud hammering on the door . She woke up , and instantly recognized what had happened . Ada had left the candle burning and had set the house on fire , as her mother had daily predicted for the last ten years . Then the hammering ceased .