about seven o'clock
The next evening when , dressed for the husking , she took a last look in her mirror she was fairly scared to see how pretty she was . And yet despite the dismay and sinking of heart with which she apprehended Perez ' attentions , she did not brush down the dark ringlets that shadowed her temples so bewitchingly , or choose a less becoming ribbon for her neck . That is not a woman 's way . It was about seven o'clock when she and Jonathan , who went as her escort , reached Israel Goodrich 's great barn , guided thither by the light which streamed from the open door . The husking was already in full blast . A dozen tallow dips , and half as many lanterns , consisting of peaked cylinders of tin , with holes plentifully punched in their sides for the light of the candle to trickle through , illumined the scene . In the middle of the floor was a pile of full a hundred bushels of ears of corn in the husk , and close around this , their knees well thrust into the mass , sat full two-score young men and maidens , for the most part duly paired off , save where here and there two or three bashful youths sat together .