ten o'clock
These David planed upon one side ; and when they were nailed against slight posts all round the walls , and the joints filled in with putty , the room began to look most enticingly habitable . The roof had not been thatched two days before the rain set in ; but now they could work quite comfortably inside ; and as the space was small , and the forenights were long , they had it quite finished before the end of November . David bought an old table in the village , and one or two chairs ; mended them up ; made a kind of rustic sofa or settle ; put a few bookshelves against the wall ; had a peat fire lighted on the hearth every day ; and at length , one Saturday evening , they had supper in the room , and the place was consecrated henceforth to friendship and learning . From this time , every evening , as soon as lessons , and the meal which immediately followed them , were over , Hugh betook himself to the cottage , on the shelves of which all his books by degrees collected themselves ; and there spent the whole long evening , generally till ten o'clock ; the first part alone reading or writing ; the last in company with his pupils , who , diligent as ever , now of course made more rapid progress than before , inasmuch as the lessons were both longer and more frequent . The only drawback to their comfort was , that they seemed to have shut Janet out ; but she soon remedied this , by contriving to get through with her house work earlier than she had ever done before ; and , taking her place on the settle behind them , knitted away diligently at her stocking , which , to inexperienced eyes , seemed always the same , and always in the same state of progress , notwithstanding that she provided the hose of the whole family , blue and grey , ribbed and plain . Her occasional withdrawings , to observe the progress of the supper , were only a cheerful break in the continuity of labour . Little would the passer-by imagine that beneath that roof , which seemed worthy only of the name of a shed , there sat , in a snug little homely room , such a youth as Hugh , such a girl as Margaret , such a grand peasant king as David , and such a true-hearted mother to them all as Janet .