ten o'clock
`` I 'll git Miss Jones to alter the bow , an ' put the feathers farther back , '' she said , like one in a dream . `` I thought yer would n't wear it at any price , '' said Chook , delighted , but puzzled . `` Sometimes you talk like a man that 's bin drinkin ' , '' said Pinkey , with the faintest possible smile . It was past ten o'clock , and one by one , with a sudden , swift collapse , each shop in Botany Road extinguished its lights , leaving a blank gap in the shining row of glass windows . Mrs Yabsley turned into Cardigan Street and , taking a firmer grip of her parcels , mounted the hill slowly on account of her breath . She still continued to shop at the last minute , in a panic , as her mother had done before her , proud of her habit of being the last customer at the butcher 's and the grocer 's . She looked up at the sky and , being anxious for the morrow , tried to forecast the weather .