nine o'clock
I do n't believe you 've got any more sense than to do it . '' And with these words she took her departure , ere the amazed Mr. Gaylord had time to show her out . Half an hour elapsed before he opened his letters . When she arrived home in Hanover Street it was nine o'clock -- an hour well on in the day for Euphrasia . Unlocking the kitchen door , she gave a glance at the stove to assure herself that it had not been misbehaving , and went into the passage on her way up-stairs to take off her gown before sitting down to reflect upon the astonishing thing she had heard . Habit had so crystallized in Euphrasia that no news , however amazing , could have shaken it . But in the passage she paused ; an unwonted , or rather untimely , sound reached her ears , a sound which came from the front of the house -- and at nine o'clock in the morning !