About nine o'clock
Yet have your mind prepared . Tom revealed to mother some of Burr 's words , which , if seriously meant , are not such as you will approve . '' The subject was dropped , nor was any more said in the course of the afternoon on political topics . About nine o'clock the guests were shown to their bedrooms and the members of the family also retired , except Colonel and Mrs. Morgan . They were in the habit of sitting up late , the wife reading aloud to her husband in the quiet hours , after the rest of the family had retired . The book which engaged their attention was `` Modern Chivalry , '' the first novel written and published west of the Alleghanies . They had reached that part of the story which describes how Teague O'Regan was treated to a coat of tar and feathers .