ten o'clock
The girls had to use these if they needed to move about in the night , and all the after-hour spreads were illuminated by candles , each girl participating bringing her own taper to the feast . The hour between nine and ten dragged by drearily enough . Especially was this so for Nancy . She lay wide awake , with swollen , feverish eyes , and waited for the ten o'clock gong . At that hour the lights on the upper floors were out and , a little later , Miss Maybrick 's soft footfall sounded in the corridor . Occasionally the teacher turned a knob and looked into a study . The draperies between studies and bedrooms had to be left open so that the teacher could cast the ray of her electric hand-lamp right in upon the pillows of the two beds .