nine o'clock
The Rev. Mr Maguire was very powerful , but he was also very long ; and Miss Mackenzie , who was hardly as yet entitled to rank herself among the thoroughly converted , was inclined to think that he was too long . She was , however , patient by nature , and willing to bear much , if only some little might come to her in return . What of social comfort she had expected to obtain from her churchgoings I can not quite define ; but I think that she had unconsciously expected something from them in that direction , and that she had been disappointed . But now , at nine o'clock on this appointed evening , she was of a certainty and in very truth going into society . The card said half-past eight ; but the Sun had not yoked his horses so far away from her Tyre , remote as that Tyre had been , as to have left her in ignorance that half-past eight meant nine . When her watch showed her that half-past eight had really come , she was fidgety , and rang the bell to inquire whether the man might have probably forgotten to send the fly ; and yet she had been very careful to tell the man that she did not wish to be at Mrs Stumfold 's before nine . `` He understands , Miss , '' said the servant ; `` do n't you be afeard ; he 's a-doing of it every night . ''