two o'clock in the morning before
Then , recalled to their senses by the cries of the girls , two of them turned back to their aid . Whether they would have reached the shore with their frightened and unmanageable burdens is uncertain , but , a tugboat happening to come along , they were all picked up and carried to a dock a mile or more below . There , after waiting a half hour , drenched and chilled all through , while the boys tried in vain to get a carriage , -- for by this time it was very late , -- the party took a street car , which carried them up town , but not near Stella 's , and they had to wait another half hour at a crossing for another car . It was two o'clock in the morning before Lettie , with Stella and her brother , reached the house , a wretched , draggled-looking , and very cross party , all without hats , -- for these had been lost in the river , -- and Lettie , her fine silk dress a ruin , her delicate shoes a shapeless mass from which the water squirted as she walked . By breakfast time Lettie , who was a delicate girl , was in a high fever , and the doctor , who was hastily called in , decided that she was threatened with pneumonia . Lettie 's mother was notified , and hurried down , and , bundled up in many wraps , Lettie was conveyed in an ambulance to her home and her own bed , where she remained for weeks , battling for her life , delirious much of the time , and living over in fancy the horrors of the day she had had her own way . Some weeks later , after her recovery , her mother , one morning , said quietly , `` Lettie , let us count up the cost of your doing as you liked . ''