nine o'clock
In the midst of our affliction Heaven sent us a ray of comfort : the kindest letter from a lady , a perfect stranger . It came yesterday ; but now I have got it to copy : oh , bless it ; and the good , kind writer . '' `` ` DEAR MADAM , -- I scarcely know whether to hope or to fear that your good husband may have mentioned my name to you : however , he is just the man to pass over both my misbehaviour and his own gallantry ; so I beg permission to introduce myself . I and my little boy were passengers by the _ Agra ; _ I was spoiled by a long residence in India , and gave your husband sore trouble by resisting discipline , refusing to put out my light at nine o'clock , and in short by being an unreasonable woman , or rather a spoiled child . Well , all my little attempts at a feud failed ; Captain Dodd did his duty , and kept his temper provokingly ; the only revenge he took was a noble one ; he jumped into the sea after my darling Freddy , and saved him from a watery grave , and his mother from madness or death ; yet he was himself hardly recovered from a wound he had received in defending us all against pirates . Need I say more to one who is herself a mother ? You will know how our little misunderstanding ended after that .