ten o’clock
By the time she was twenty-seven , these thoughts had become very familiar to her . They trod their way through her mind as she sat opposite her mother of a morning at a table heaped with bundles of old letters and well supplied with pencils , scissors , bottles of gum , india-rubber bands , large envelopes , and other appliances for the manufacture of books . Shortly before Ralph Denham 's visit , Katharine had resolved to try the effect of strict rules upon her mother 's habits of literary composition . They were to be seated at their tables every morning at ten o'clock , with a clean-swept morning of empty , secluded hours before them . They were to keep their eyes fast upon the paper , and nothing was to tempt them to speech , save at the stroke of the hour when ten minutes for relaxation were to be allowed them . If these rules were observed for a year , she made out on a sheet of paper that the completion of the book was certain , and she laid her scheme before her mother with a feeling that much of the task was already accomplished . Mrs. Hilbery examined the sheet of paper very carefully .