nine o'clock
The roof had been carefully reared in accordance with the style of the east window , and the whole effect was beautiful and impressive . Mrs. Willis was particularly fond of her own chapel . Here she hoped the girls ' best lessons might be learned , and here she had even once or twice brought a refractory pupil , and tried what a gentle word or two spoken in these old and sacred walls might effect . Here , on wet Sundays the girls assembled for service ; and here , every evening at nine o'clock , came the vicar of the large parish to which Lavender House belonged , to conduct evening prayers . He was an old man , and a great friend of Mrs. Willis ' , and he often told her that he considered these young girls some of the most important members of his flock . Here Hester knelt to-night . It is to be doubted whether in her confusion , and in the strange loneliness which even Mrs. Willis had scarcely removed , she prayed much .