nine o'clock
At the perfect boarding house the shrill tones of Keturah 's voice and those of Miss Phinney and Mrs. Tripp penetrated through shut doors . It is hard to figure percentages when the most intimate details of Bayport 's family life are being recited and gloated over on the other side of a thin partition . And when Matilda undertook to defend the Come-Outer faith against the assaults of the majority , the verbal riot was , as Mr. Tidditt described it , `` like feedin ' time in a parrot shop . '' So Miss Phoebe came to the boarding house for supper and then returned to the schoolroom , where , with a lighted bracket lamp beside her on the desk , she labored until nine o'clock . Then she put on her coat and hat , extinguished the light , locked the door , and started on her lonely walk home . `` The main road '' in our village is dark after nine o clock . There is a street light -- a kerosene lamp -- on a post in front of the Methodist meeting house , but the sexton forgets it , generally speaking , or , at any rate , neglects to fill it except at rare intervals .