about one o'clock in the morning
In a country where there are no thieves , because a thief here would not know what to do with his booty , we are secure from human molestation , and the land has long been cleared of all sorts of wild beasts , without being unpleasantly tamed . It is like England in that , and yet it has a touch of the sylvan , which you feel nowhere as you do in our dear New England hill country . There was one night , however , when we were lured on and on , and did not stop to camp till fairly in the dusk . Then we went to sleep without supper , for we had had rather a late lunch and were not hungry , and about one o'clock in the morning I was awakened by voices speaking Altrurian together . I recognized my husband 's voice , which is always so kind , but which seemed to have a peculiarly tender and compassionate note in it now . The other was lower and of a sadness which wrung my heart , though I did not know in the least what the person was saying . The talk went on a long time , at first about some matter of immediate interest , as I fancied , and then apparently it branched off on some topic which seemed to concern the stranger , whoever he was .