eleven o'clock
At last the evening shadows crept stealthily up , darkening first one room , then another , until there was not light enough to read by . Then I dropped my book and went out to breathe the cold air on the verandah . Wearily the hours went by , and still there was no sign of my friend . Towards eleven o'clock the moon , now waning , once more rose above the hills and shed her light across the lawn , splendid still , but with the first tinge of melancholy that clouds her departing glory . Exhausted nature asserted herself , and chilled to the bone I went to bed , and , at last , to sleep . I slept peacefully at first , but soon the events that had come over my life began to weave themselves in wild disharmony through my restful visions , and the events that were to come cast their lengthening shadows before them . The world of past , present , and future thoughts , came into my soul , distorted , without perspective , nothing to help me to discern the good from the evil , the suffering gone and long-forgotten from the pain in store .