midnight
`` Will you wake me if the snake comes out ? '' `` Yes . Go to sleep . '' Near midnight . The children are all asleep and she sits there still , sewing and reading by turns . From time to time she glances round the floor and wall-plate , and , whenever she hears a noise , she reaches for the stick . The thunderstorm comes on , and the wind , rushing through the cracks in the slab wall , threatens to blow out her candle .