four o'clock
`` Our friends and neighbors got lonesome in the night and refused to sleep alone and let us rest in contentment . So they moved in , and here we are . '' Both Gooding and Miss Landbury positively declined to go home alone , and other nurses were appointed to guard them during the brief remaining hours of the night . At four o'clock came sleep and silence and serenity , with Carol on the floor , clutching David 's hand , which even in sleep she did not resign . The next morning a huge notice was posted on the bulletin board . `` Any one who tells a ghost story , or discusses departed spirits , in this institution or on the grounds thereof , shall have all privileges suspended for a period of six weeks . `` By order of the Superintendent . ''