ten o'clock
`` Poor Lucia ! What a sacrifice to friendship , '' answered Maurice laughing . `` But to reward you , Blackwood arrived last night , and you will find the new chapter of your favourite story . '' Soon after ten o'clock Lucia put on her hat , and , strong in her good resolutions , went along the lane to Mr. Leigh 's . She lifted the latch rather timidly , and peeped in . From the tiny entrance she could see into the large square sitting-room , so tidy and so bare , from which the last trace of feminine occupation had passed away three years ago , when Alice Leigh , her old playfellow , died . There , in his high-backed chair , sat the solitary old man , prematurely old , worn out by labour and sorrow before his time .