about six o'clock
She kept `` dear Tom , '' the Colonel , not crushed or beaten , for that was beyond the power of man to do , but at least silently acquiescent in her program : he allowed her even to entertain her prophetical friends at his expense , now and then ; and , even when among men , refrained from too bitter speech . It was said by the Colonel 's friends that Mrs. Colonel had a tongue of her own . Certainly , she ruled her house well and did her duty ; and it was only because of her husband 's absence in Scotland that during this time she was permitting herself the refreshment of a week or two among the Illuminated . At about six o'clock Lady Laura announced her intention of retiring for her evening meditation . Opening out of her bedroom was a small dressing-room that she had fitted up for this purpose with all the broad suggestiveness that marks the Higher Thought : decked with ornaments emblematical of at least three religions , and provided with a faldstool and an exceedingly easy chair . It was here that she was accustomed to spend an hour before dinner , with closed eyes , emancipating herself from the fetters of sense ; and rising to a due appreciation of that Nothingness that was All , from which All came and to which it retired . `` I must go , dearest ; it is time . ''