nine o'clock
`` I 'll lay thee a penny he 's at the same game now . Gie him a licking when he comes in , son Matt . '' `` Nay , but Matt wont , '' said Jennie Denton , with a quiet decision . She stood at her big wheel , spinning busily , though it was nine o'clock ; and though her words were few and quiet , the men knew from her face and manner that Davie 's licking would not be easily accomplished . In fact , Jennie habitually stood between Davie and his father and brothers . She had nursed him through a motherless babyhood , and had always sympathized in his eager efforts to rise above the sordid life that encompassed him . It was Jennie who had got him the grudging permission to go in the evening to the village schoolmaster for some book-learning .