ten
o'clock
The most beautiful things can not be given . I had been out of town for a time . Returning to Paris a day sooner than I intended , I wished to give Rose the pleasure of an unexpected arrival and I went to see her that same evening . Though it was not more than ten o'clock , the lights were already out in the strictly-managed boarding-house . There was a row of brass candlesticks on the hall-table . The man-servant wanted to give me one ; but I was impatient , thanked him hurriedly and ran upstairs in the dark . I could not have told why I was so happy ; for , though I should not have been willing to confess it , I had long lost all my illusions about the girl .