one o'clock in the morning
`` The letter does the boy very great honor , very great honor , my dear , '' he said , patting it as it lay on Helen 's knee -- `` and I think we have all reason to be thankful for it -- very thankful . I need not tell you in what quarter , my dear , for you are a sainted woman : yes , Laura , my love , your mother is a sainted woman . And Mrs. Pendennis , ma'am , I shall order a copy of the book for myself , and another at the Book club . '' We may be sure that the widow and Laura walked out to meet the mail which brought them their copy of Pen 's precious novel , as soon as that work was printed and ready for delivery to the public ; and that they read it to each other : and that they also read it privately and separately , for when the widow came out of her room in her dressing-gown at one o'clock in the morning with volume two , which she had finished , she found Laura devouring volume three in bed . Laura did not say much about the book , but Helen pronounced that it was a happy mixture of Shakspeare , and Byron , and Walter Scott , and was quite certain that her son was the greatest genius , as he was the best son , in the world . Did Laura not think about the book and the author , although she said so little ? At least she thought about Arthur Pendennis .