one o'clock in the morning
`` I do n't know anything about fires , but if this one starts in this direction I want to be here , and not away somewhere , '' she repeated to her daughter 's urging ; nor could she be induced to take any other viewpoint . So in their rooms they remained , and their only news from without was transmitted to them from the servants and visitors to the building . The telephone was out of commission , and Helen felt as though she were marooned in full sight of a civilization with which she could not communicate and which afforded her no benefits . It had been past one o'clock in the morning when Smith had brought her home from the fire . Long after that the excitement had kept her awake ; but she had fallen asleep at last , and wakened again only when it was broad day . It was , however , to be one of the longest days in her calendar , and by noon she felt as though she had been waiting for years in expectation of she did not know what . She tried to read , but found it impossible to fix her attention on the book .