eleven o’clock
Zack answered this inquiry also in the negative -- with a running accompaniment of bad jokes , as usual . Madonna , except under extraordinary circumstances , never came down into the studio in the evening , when Mr. Blyth had company there . Satisfied on these points , Mat now wanted to know at what time Mr. Blyth and his family were accustomed to go to bed ; and explained , when Zack expressed astonishment at the inquiry , that he had only asked this question in order to find out the hour at which it would be proper to take leave of their host that night . On hearing this , young Thorpe answered as readily and carelessly as usual , that the painter 's family were early people , who went to bed before eleven o'clock ; adding , that it was , of course , particularly necessary to leave the studio in good time on the occasion referred to , because Valentine would most probably start for the country next day , by one of the morning trains . Mat 's next question was preceded by a silence of a few minutes . Possibly he was thinking in what terms he might best put it . If this were the case , he certainly decided on using the briefest possible form of expression , for when he spoke again , he asked in so many words , what sort of a woman the painter 's wife was .