nine o'clock
`` Come now , you ought to be in bed ; and , besides , this old stocking of mine is darned all over already , and ought to be thrown away . '' `` Ah , Phillida , '' said her mother with a sweet , entreating voice , holding fast to the stocking all the time , `` if it gives me pleasure let me do it . If I like to save old things I 'm sure it 's no harm . '' `` But you ought to have been in bed at nine o'clock , '' said Phillida , her hold on the stocking weakening perceptibly under the spell of her mother 's irresistible entreaty . `` It will take but a minute more if you will let me alone , '' was all the mother said as Phillida released the work , and the elaborate darning went on . `` There 's a good deal more darn than stocking to that now , '' said the younger sister . `` It 's a work of genius .