nine o’clock
I have always wished you could have seen more of her . ' There could be no doubt from the tone , in the mind of any one who knew Mr. Maurine Mohun , that the decision was final ; but perhaps Dolores would have asked more if the door-bell had not rung at the moment and Mr. Smithson had not been announced . Fate was closing in on her . She retired into her book , and remained as long as she possibly could , for the sake of seeing her father and hearing his voice ; but after a time she was desired to call Caroline , and to go to bed herself , for it was a good deal past nine o'clock . She had been aware , she could hardly tell how , that her father had been offered a government appointment connected with the Fiji Islands , and then that , glad to escape from the dreariness which had settled down on the house since his wife 's death , about eighteen months previously , he had accepted it , and she had speculated much on her probable fate ; but had never before been officially informed of his designs for himself or for her . He was a barrister , who spent all his leisure time on scientific studies , and his wife had been equally devoted to the same pursuits . Dolores had been her constant companion ; but after the mother 's death , from an accident on a glacier , a strange barrier of throwing himself into the ways of a girl past the charms of infancy .