about ten o'clock
I can tell you better then what to do . ' When Picotee had left her the second time , Ethelberta turned over upon her breast and shook in convulsive sobs which had little relationship with tears . This abandonment ended as suddenly as it had begun -- not lasting more than a minute and a half altogether -- and she got up in an unconsidered and unusual impulse to seek relief from the stinging sarcasm of this event -- the unhappy love of Picotee -- by mentioning something of it to another member of the family , her eldest sister Gwendoline , who was a woman full of sympathy . Ethelberta descended to the kitchen , it being now about ten o'clock . The room was empty , Gwendoline not having yet returned , and Cornelia , being busy about her own affairs upstairs . The French family had gone to the theatre , and the house on that account was very quiet to-night . Ethelberta sat down in the dismal place without turning up the gas , and in a few minutes admitted Gwendoline .