ten o'clock
It seemed wonderful , indeed , that a little sketch , the work of half an hour , should bring ten dollars . Why compare with this the hours of toil in a grocery store -- seventy , at least -- which had been necessary to earn the small sum of three dollars . For the first time Chester began to understand the difference between manual and intelligent labor . It was ten o'clock when Chester left the minister 's house -- a late hour in Wyncombe -- and he had nearly reached his own modest home before he met anyone . Then he overtook a man of perhaps thirty , thinly clad and shivering in the bitter , wintry wind . He was a stranger , evidently , for Chester knew everyone in the village , and he was tempted to look back . The young man , encouraged perhaps by this evidence of interest , spoke , hurriedly : `` Do you know , '' he asked , `` where I can get a bed for the night ? ''