seven o'clock
Once in a while , as a special treat , they were allowed to play bean-porridge-hot for fifteen minutes . They were not allowed to talk after they went to bed , and there was little opportunity for girlish confidences . However , there came a day at last when Captain Hopkins and his wife were called away to visit a sick neighbor , some twelve miles distant , and the four girls were left in charge of the house . At seven o'clock the two younger went to bed , and Letitia and her great-great-grandmother remained up to wait for the return of their elders , as they had been instructed . Then it was that the little great-great-grandmother showed Letitia her treasures . She had only two , and was not often allowed to look at them , lest they wean her heart away from more serious things . They were kept in a secret drawer of the great chest for safety , and were nothing but a little silver snuff-box with a picture on the top , and a little flat glass bottle , about an inch and a half long .