nine o'clock
In all her after-life -- its pride and its glory , its downfall and disgrace , that night remained vividly in her memory . She woke many and many a night , starting up in her warm bed , from some startling dream , that she was back , lost in the snow , with Charley lying lifeless in her lap . But help was at hand . It was close upon nine o'clock , when , through the deathly white silence , the sound of many voices came . When over the cold glitter of the winter night , the red light of lanterns flared , Don Caesar came plunging headlong through the drifts to his little mistress ' side , with loud and joyful barking , licking her face , her hands , her feet . They were saved . She sank back sick and dizzy in her father 's clasp .