quarter to eleven o'clock
The surprising blankness of the disappointment made her almost dizzy ; she turned aside blindly , and stumbled into the quiet backwater behind a stairway , where she could recover her self-possession and endure unobserved the first pangs of bitterness . It seemed to her that she would die if she could not see Wolf , if she had to endure another minute of loneliness and darkness and aimless wandering through the night . Rose 's house was only three well-lighted blocks from the station ; Norma almost ran them . Other houses , she noted , were still brightly lighted at quarter to eleven o'clock , and Rose 's might be . Aunt Kate was there , and she and Rose might well be sitting up , with the restless smaller baby , or to finish some bit of sewing . It was a double house , and the windows that matched Rose 's bedroom and dining-room were lighted in the wrong half . But all Rose 's side was black and dark and silent .