two in the morning
`` Only a little pain , caused by the rap I got from that mast . Come now , auntie , do n't fuss about me , but sit down and hear what the captain has got to say . '' Miss Millet was one of those cheery , unselfish , active-minded women who are not easily thrown off their balance -- deranged , as the French say -- by untoward circumstances . The arrival of any two friends at two in the morning would have failed to disturb the good nature or weaken the hospitality of that amiable creature . Her joy , therefore , at the sudden , though untimely , appearance of her brother and friend was not marred by selfish considerations ; and although she was eager to bear what the captain had to say , she would not let him begin until he and Jeff had retired to an attic chamber and put on dry habiliments . How male attire came to be so handy in a spinster 's house is easily accounted for by the fact that her regard for the memory of her departed father was so great as to have induced her to leave his hat and stick in the passage in their wonted places after his death , and to leave undisturbed the chest of drawers which contained the greater part of his wardrobe . Nothing short of absolute necessity would have induced Miss Millet to disturb these sacred relics ; but she knew that death might result from sitting in drenched clothes , and her well-balanced mind at once pointed out that here was a case which demanded a sacrifice .