nine o’clock
I felt , after this , that it was impossible Mary could go back , and that it was the hard necessity of her position , as it is of mine , that she should struggle on to make a decent livelihood without assistance from any of her relations . I confessed as much as this to her ; but I added that I would try to get her employment with the persons for whom I work , who pay higher wages , and show a little more indulgence to those under them than the people to whom she is now obliged to look for support . I spoke much more confidently than I felt about being able to do this , and left her , as I thought , in better spirits than usual . She promised to be back to-night to tea at nine o'clock , and now it is nearly one in the morning , and she is not home yet . If it was any other girl I should not feel uneasy , for I should make up my mind that there was extra work to be done in a hurry , and that they were keeping her late , and I should go to bed . But Mary is so unfortunate in everything that happens to her , and her own melancholy talk about herself keeps hanging on my mind so , that I have fears on her account which would not distress me about any one else . It seems inexcusably silly to think such a thing , much more to write it down ; but I have a kind of nervous dread upon me that some accident -- What does that loud knocking at the street door mean ?