nine o'clock in the morning
It was a broad window , with a low round arch , looking out on the garden and the sea beyond it . A bracket was fastened to the sill , and on this bracket stood the lamp that Miss Vesta was trimming . -LRB- It was against all fitness , as Miss Phoebe said , that a lamp should be trimmed at this hour . Every other lamp in the house was in perfect order by nine o'clock in the morning ; but it was Miss Vesta 's fancy to trim this lamp in the evening , and Miss Phoebe made a point of indulging her sister 's fancies when she conscientiously could . -RRB- It was a brass lamp of quaint pattern , and the brass shone so that several Miss Vestas , with faces curiously distorted , looked out at the real one , as she daintily brushed off the burnt wicking , and , after filling and lighting the lamp , replaced the brilliantly polished chimney . She watched the flame as it crept along the wick ; then , when it burned steady and clear , she folded her hands with a little contented gesture , and looked out of the window . The sun had set .