nine
o'clock
Pr ` ythee show us something newer . '' It was late in the evening when the two coaches left the Manor gate . Hyacinth had been in no haste to return to the Abbey . There was nobody there who wanted her , she protested , and there would be a moon after nine o'clock , and she had servants enough to take care of her on the road ; so Mrs. Lewin and her ladyship 's woman were entertained in the steward 's room , where Reuben held forth upon the splendour that had prevailed in his master 's house before the troubles -- and where the mantua-maker ate and drank all she could get , and dozed and yawned through the old man 's reminiscences . The afternoon was spent more pleasantly by the quality , who sat about in the sunny garden , or sauntered by the fish pond and fed the carp -- and took a dish of the Indian drink which the sisters loved , in the pergola at the end of the grass walk . Hyacinth now affected a passion for the country , and quoted the late Mr. Cowley in praise of rusticity . `` Oh , how delicious is this woodland valley , '' she cried . ''