eleven o'clock
His failings will not excuse mine . Humility forbids me to censure others , and prudence obliges me to avoid copying them . ' Lamont thought Miss Mancel too severe in her doctrine ; but there was something so respectable in her severity , that he forbore to contest it , and owned to me afterwards that , while she spoke and he contemplated that amiable society , his heart silently acquiesced in the justness of her sentiments . We parted at our usual hour ; and at the same time the company in the lower part of the house broke up , eleven o'clock being the stated hour for them on those occasions to return to their respective homes . The next morning , as I went downstairs , I met the housekeeper and entered into conversation with her , for which the preceding night 's festivity furnished me with topics . From her I learnt that since the ladies had been established in that house they had given fortunes from twenty to a hundred pounds , as merit and occasion directed , to above thirty young women , and that they had seldom celebrated fewer than two marriages in a year , sometimes more . Nor does their bounty cease on the wedding-day , for they are always ready to assist them on any emergency ; and watch with so careful an eye over the conduct of these young people as proves of much greater service to them than the money they bestow .