Nine o’clock
As it was , the very defenselessness of her situation gave her , in my opinion , the right to expect from me even the absurdest sacrifices to the narrowest conventionalities . Mrs. Baggs was not quite so sober in her habits , perhaps , as matrons in general are expected to be ; but , for my particular purpose , this was only a slight blemish ; it takes so little , after all , to represent the abstract principle of propriety in the short-sighted eye of the world . As I reached the drawing-room door , I looked at my watch . Nine o'clock ! and nothing done yet to facilitate our escaping from Crickgelly to the regions of civilized life the next morning . I was pleased to hear , when I knocked at the door , that Alicia 's voice sounded firmer as she told me to come in . She was more confused than astonished or frightened when I sat down by her on the sofa , and repeated the principal topics of my conversion with Mrs. Baggs .