eleven
o'clock
Bainton nodded . It was all the response necessary . The two then separated , going their different ways to their different homes , Spruce having to get back to the Manor and a possible curtain - lecture from his wife . All the village was soon asleep , -- and eleven o'clock rang from the church-tower over closed cottages in which not a nicker of lamp or candle was to be seen . The moonbeams shed a silver rain upon the outlines of the neatly thatched roofs and barns -- illumining with touches of radiance as from heaven , the beautiful ` God 's House ' which dominated the whole cluster of humble habitations . Everything was very quiet , -- the little hive of humanity had ceased buzzing ; and the intense stillness was only broken by the occasional murmur of a ripple breaking from the river against the pebbly shore . Up at the Manor , however , the lights were not yet extinguished .