about two in the morning
She has finished her course at the parochial school and she 's clerking in a downtown store . That is slow going for Peggy , so she evens things up by attending the Saturday night dances . When she 's whirling around the hall on the tips of her toes , she really feels like herself . She gets home about two in the morning on these occasions and finds her mother waiting up for her and kneeling before a little statue of the Virgin that stands in the corner of the sitting-room . As soon as the mother sees Peggy , she pounces on her and weeps on her shoulder , and after Peggy 's in bed and dead with the tire in her legs , her mother gets down beside the bed and prays some more . ` What would you do , please , ' says Peggy to me , ` if you had a mother that kept crying and praying every time you had a bit of fun ? Would n't you run away from home and get where they took things aisier ? ' ''