nine o'clock
Three dollars he paid for board , and fifty cents he kept for spending money , church dues , a little tobacco and occasionally a glass of beer . Every week he put a dollar and a half in a little iron bank against a rainy day . His room was a bare corner in the topmost loft of the mill . To this he would ascend after sitting alone on the doorstep of the mill in this lonely , foresaken neighborhood , until nine o'clock of an evening ; and here , amid the odor of machinery wafted up from the floor below , by the light of a single tallow candle , he would conclude his solitary day , reading his German paper , folding his hands and thinking , kneeling by an open window in the shadow of the night to say his prayers , and silently stretching himself to rest . Long were the days , dreary the prospect . Still he lifted his hands in utmost faith to God , praying that his sins might be forgiven and that he might be vouchsafed a few more years of comfort and of happy family life . So the momentous question was finally decided .