eleven o’clock
I could not understand why she should have made ' way with the dishes and Mrs. Perkins 's table-cloth , but there 's no accounting for tastes of people in that line of business , so I did n't bother much trying to reason that matter out . `` After we 'd had dinner and spent the evening in Mr. Perkins 's library , the family went to bed , and I pretended to do the same . Instead of really going to bed , I waited my chance and slipped down the stairs into the dining-room , and got under the table . At eleven o'clock the maidservants went up to their rooms , and at quarter-past there was n't a light burning in the house . I sat there in the dining-room waiting , and just as the clock struck half-past eleven I heard a noise out on the stairs , and in less than half a minute a sulphur match was struck almost over my head under the table , and there stood the cook , her face livid as that of a dead person , and in her hand she held a candle , which she lit with the match . From where I was I could see everything she did , which was not much . She simply gathered up all the table fixings she could , and started down-stairs into the kitchen with 'em .