four o'clock
`` But I do n't know , '' said Kingston , in a perfectly unmoved and stolid tone , `` whether it 's worse than having no candles . '' Lesley looked up in astonishment . `` It 's when any one 's ill that you feel that , '' the woman went on , in the same level tones . `` In winter it 's dark , maybe , at four o'clock , and not light again till nearly nine in the morning . It does n't matter so much if you can go out . But if you have to sit by some one who 's ill , and you ca n't see their faces , and if they leave off moaning you think they 're dead -- and perhaps when the early morning light comes it 's only a dead face you have to look upon , and you never saw them draw their last breath -- why , then , you feel mad-like to think of the candles that are wasted in big houses and of the bread that 's thrown away . '' Lesley listened , appalled .