about eleven o'clock
She set to work with her cleaning ; and by nightfall , when Malcolmson returned from his walk -- he always had one of his books to study as he walked -- he found the room swept and tidied , a fire burning in the old hearth , the lamp lit , and the table spread for supper with Mrs. Witham 's excellent fare . ` This is comfort , indeed , ' he said , as he rubbed his hands . When he had finished his supper , and lifted the tray to the other end of the great oak dining-table , he got out his books again , put fresh wood on the fire , trimmed his lamp , and set himself down to a spell of real hard work . He went on without pause till about eleven o'clock , when he knocked off for a bit to fix his fire and lamp , and to make himself a cup of tea . He had always been a tea-drinker , and during his college life had sat late at work and had taken tea late . The rest was a great luxury to him , and he enjoyed it with a sense of delicious , voluptuous ease . The renewed fire leaped and sparkled , and threw quaint shadows through the great old room ; and as he sipped his hot tea he revelled in the sense of isolation from his kind .