two o'clock in the morning
What were pins made for except to curb the ambitious wings of flighty young men who were soaring higher than was good for them . She would let him know that Ruth was a prize not to be too easily won , especially by penniless young gentlemen , however brave and heroic they might be . Hardly had she crossed the dreary village street encumbered with piles of half-melted snow and mud , than she espied Peter picking his way toward her , his silk hat brushed to a turn , his gray surtout buttoned close , showing but the edge of his white silk muffler , his carefully rolled umbrella serving as a divining rod the better to detect the water holes . No one who met him and looked into his fresh , rosy face , or caught the merry twinkle of his eyes , would ever have supposed he had been pouring liniment over broken arms and bandaged fingers until two o'clock in the morning of the night before . It had only been when Bolton 's sister had discovered an empty `` cell , '' as Jack called the bedroom next to his , that he had abandoned his intention of camping out on Jack 's disheartened lounge , and had retired like a gentleman carrying with him all his toilet articles , ready to be set out in the morning . Long before that time he had captured everybody in the place : from Mrs. Hicks , who never dreamed that such a well of tenderness over suffering could exist in an old fellow 's heart , down to the freckled-faced boy who came for his muddy shoes and who , after a moment 's talk with Peter as to how they should be polished , retired later in the firm belief that they belonged to `` a gent way up in G , '' as he expressed it , he never having waited on `` the likes of him before . '' As to Bolton , he thought he was the `` best ever , '' and as to his prim , patient sister who had closed her school to be near her brother -- she declared to Mrs. Hicks five minutes after she had laid her eyes on him , that Mr. Breen 's uncle was `` just too dear for anything , '' -- to which the lady with the movable hair and mob-cap not only agreed , but added the remark of her own , `` that folks like him was a sight better than the kind she was a-gettin ' . ''