nine o'clock
She passed on to write of other things , but Bradley was deeply affected by this news . He had heard of the alliance obscurely , but had felt that it was only an attempt to revive the old grange movement , and that it could not succeed . But her letter set him thinking . He wrote away on a speech till nine o'clock , and then went out for his usual walk about the capitol and its grounds , which had never lost their charm , as the city itself had . He had grown into the habit of going out whenever he wished to escape the paltry decoration , the hot colors , the vitiated air , of his boarding-place and the importunities of his fellow-boarders . He went out whenever he wanted to think great and refreshing thoughts , or whenever he felt the need of beauty or the presence of life . It had been snowing all the afternoon , and the shrubbery hung heavy and silent with heaped , clinging , feathery snow , dazzling white by contrast with the dark sustaining branches , and the yellow lamps flamed warmly amid the all-surrounding steely blue and glistening white .