nine
o'clock
When it grew dusk they all could be heard coming indoors to finish the evening in the parlour . Then there was an intensified continuation of the above-mentioned signs of enjoyment , talkings and haw-haws , runnings upstairs and runnings down , a slamming of doors and a clinking of cups and glasses ; till the proudest adjoining tenant without friends on his own side of the partition might have been tempted to wish for entrance to that merry dwelling , if only to know the cause of these fluctuations of hilarity , and to see if the guests were really so numerous , and the observations so very amusing as they seemed . The stagnation of life on the Garland side of the party-wall began to have a very gloomy effect by the contrast . When , about half-past nine o'clock , one of these tantalizing bursts of gaiety had resounded for a longer time than usual , Anne said , ` I believe , mother , that you are wishing you had gone . ' ` I own to feeling that it would have been very cheerful if we had joined in , ' said Mrs. Garland , in a hankering tone . ` I was rather too nice in listening to you and not going . The parson never calls upon us except in his spiritual capacity .