ten
o’clock
Now I could only answer my father with a look of despair , and endeavour to hide myself from his view . About this time we retired to our house at Belrive . This change was particularly agreeable to me . The shutting of the gates regularly at ten o'clock , and the impossibility of remaining on the lake after that hour , had rendered our residence within the walls of Geneva very irksome to me . I was now free . Often , after the rest of the family had retired for the night , I took the boat , and passed many hours upon the water . Sometimes , with my sails set , I was carried by the wind ; and sometimes , after rowing into the middle of the lake , I left the boat to pursue its own course , and gave way to my own miserable reflections .