ten o’clock
With a gentleness that had something of reverence in it , Ratcliffe partly closed the shutter , and seemed thus to throw a veil over a scene so sorrowful . `` Ye are ill , Effie , '' were the first words Jeanie could utter ; `` ye are very ill . '' `` O , what wad I gie to be ten times waur , Jeanie ! '' was the reply -- `` what wad I gie to be cauld dead afore the ten o'clock bell the morn ! And our father -- but I am his bairn nae langer now -- O , I hae nae friend left in the warld ! -- O , that I were lying dead at my mother 's side , in Newbattle kirkyard ! '' `` Hout , lassie , '' said Ratcliffe , willing to show the interest which he absolutely felt , `` dinna be sae dooms doon-hearted as a ' that ; there 's mony a tod hunted that 's no killed .