ten o'clock
In one way Lilith was responsible for this : she could make herself very pleasant when she chose , seem to be your friend through thick and thin , thus luring you on to unbosom yourself ; and afterwards she would go away and laugh over what you had told her , with other girls . And Laura was peculiarly helpless under such circumstances : if it was done with tact , and with a certain assumed warmth of manner , anyone could make a cat 's - paw of her . That Lilith and she undressed for bed together had also something to do with their intimacy : this half-hour when one 's hair was unbound and replaited , and fat and thin arms wielded the brush , was the time of all others for confidences . The governess who occupied the fourth bed did not come upstairs till ten o'clock ; the publican 's daughter , a lazy girl , was usually half asleep before the other two had their clothes off . It was in the course of one of these confidential chats that Laura did a very foolish thing . In a moment of weakness , she gratuitously gave away the secret that Mother supported her family by the work of her hands . The two girls were sitting on the side of Lilith 's bed .