About ten o'clock
The office was performed by the kindly hands of the parent , who , still overcome by the workings of fearful anticipations , sat down by the fire , and , fixing her eyes on the red embers , seemed for a time lost in the meditations of a heart that , filled with the spirit of God , felt that , as Esdras sayeth , `` life is astonishment and fear , '' and that we can not comprehend the things that are promised to the righteous in this world , nor those that are given to the wicked to destroy the happiness of the good . The night was passed in anxiety and fearful forebodings ; and the beam of the morning was dreaded by the daughter , as if it were the blaze of evidence that was to bring to light some crime she had committed . She was unable to rise ; the small domestic duties of the morning were performed by the mother , pensively , and under the burden of the prospect of coming ill . About ten o'clock , a slight knock was heard at the door ; Euphan cried , in a weak voice , `` Come in . '' She heard a whispering and rustling of clothes , as if the visitors were deciding , by expostulations and pushings , which of them should enter first . At last two neighbours , who had been known to be active in circulation of reports against the daughter , made their appearance . On the usual salutation , expressed , as Euphan thought , in a strange voice , and accompanied by stranger looks -- `` Is Menie ill the day ? ''