ten o'clock
* * * * * Amherst , that morning , had sought out his wife with the definite resolve to efface the unhappy impression of their previous talk . He blamed himself for having been too easily repelled by her impatience . As the stronger of the two , with the power of a fixed purpose to sustain him , he should have allowed for the instability of her impulses , and above all for the automatic influences of habit . Knowing that she did not keep early hours he delayed till ten o'clock to present himself at her sitting-room door , but the maid who answered his knock informed him that Mrs. Amherst was not yet up . His reply that he would wait did not appear to hasten the leisurely process of her toilet , and he had the room to himself for a full half-hour . Many months had passed since he had spent so long a time in it , and though habitually unobservant of external details , he now found an outlet for his restlessness in mechanically noting the intimate appurtenances of Bessy 's life . He was at first merely conscious of a soothing harmony of line and colour , extending from the blurred tints of the rug to the subdued gleam of light on old picture-frames and on the slender flanks of porcelain vases ; but gradually he began to notice how every chair and screen and cushion , and even every trifling utensil on the inlaid writing-desk , had been chosen with reference to the whole composition , and to the minutest requirements of a fastidious leisure .