five minutes before ten
Joe had been at the Three Jolly Bargemen , smoking his pipe , from a quarter after eight o'clock to a quarter before ten . While he was there , my sister had been seen standing at the kitchen door , and had exchanged Good Night with a farm-laborer going home . The man could not be more particular as to the time at which he saw her -LRB- he got into dense confusion when he tried to be -RRB- , than that it must have been before nine . When Joe went home at five minutes before ten , he found her struck down on the floor , and promptly called in assistance . The fire had not then burnt unusually low , nor was the snuff of the candle very long ; the candle , however , had been blown out . Nothing had been taken away from any part of the house . Neither , beyond the blowing out of the candle , -- which stood on a table between the door and my sister , and was behind her when she stood facing the fire and was struck , -- was there any disarrangement of the kitchen , excepting such as she herself had made , in falling and bleeding .