half past ten
Yet I waited a few minutes so that she might get well on with her first sleep , and then took off my boots , and in stockinged feet slipped past her room and down the stairs . How stair , handrail , and landing creaked that night , and how my feet and body struck noisily against things seen quite well but misjudged in the effort not to misjudge them ! And yet there was the note of safety still sounding , for the snoring never ceased , and the sleeper woke not , though her waking then might have changed all my life . So I came safely to the kitchen , and there put in my pocket one of the best winter candles and the tinder-box , and as I crept out of the room heard suddenly how loud the old clock was ticking , and looking up saw the bright brass band marking half past ten on the dial . Out in the street I kept in the shadow of the houses as far as I might , though all was silent as the grave ; indeed , I think that when the moon is bright a great hush falls always upon Nature , as though she was taken up in wondering at her own beauty . Everyone was fast asleep in Moonfleet and there was no light in any window ; only when I came opposite the Why Not ? I saw from the red glow behind the curtains that the bottom room was lit up , so Elzevir was not yet gone to bed .