eleven o'clock
`` Oh no , thank you ; mother 's better now . She merely wanted to be sure where he was . '' He did not offer to go , upon this conclusion of his business , but hoped he was not keeping her from her mother . She thanked him once again , and said no , that her mother was much better since she had had a cup of tea ; and then they looked at each other , and without any apparent exchange of intelligence he remained , and at eleven o'clock he was still there . He was honest in saying he did not know it was so late ; but he made no pretence of being sorry , and she took the blame to herself . `` I ought n't to have let you stay , '' she said . `` But with father gone , and all that trouble hanging over us -- '' She was allowing him to hold her hand a moment at the door , to which she had followed him .