Six o'clock
`` Reading by fire-light ? '' said Margaret . `` I suppose I am : but it had not occurred to me -- the daylight went away so softly . Six o'clock , I declare ! The days _ are _ lengthening , as we say every year . But we will have something better than firelight , if you will be so kind as to set those candles on the table . '' The time was long put when Maria thought of apologising for asking her friend to do what her lameness rendered painful to herself .