nearly ten o'clock
`` Is n't it dreadful , girls ? But then I thought their friendship was too sudden to last long . Perhaps Frank may understand now that ` old friends are sure , old ties endure . ' '' It was nearly ten o'clock , when the singing school was supposed to close . Frank found himself wishing that it were over with . Somehow , he felt very tired , though suspecting that his weariness might be more of the mind than the body . Still , with that great game to be won on the morrow , he believed that he ought to get between the sheets as soon as possible now .