eleven o'clock
I was shaking so with fear that I had to sit down on a stone heap for a while . I pulled myself together and started on again , but all joy was gone from the adventure -- there seemed really to be too much adventure about it . Three miles , four miles more I walked ; but they did not go as the first miles had gone . It was eleven o'clock , and I was only halfway ; at this rate I could not be home before two in the morning . If they had been coming to meet me they would have done so before this . They must have given me up for the night , every one would be in bed and asleep , and to wake them up in the small hours would frighten them more than my not coming home had done . Moreover , the long road over the hill and through the woods was before me .