ten o'clock
You shall tell me everything to-night when we go upstairs , and we wo n't think about it any more until then . '' So the evening had passed almost pleasantly . At times even Cicely must have forgotten what lay behind and before her , for she had laughed and talked with a sort of feverish gaiety ; only after such outbursts she had grown suddenly silent and trembled on the verge of tears . Walter had watched her and sent her upstairs before ten o'clock , and her mother had gone up with her and helped her to undress as if she had been a child again . Then she had put on her dressing-gown and gone to Mrs. Clinton 's room , and resting her head on her mother 's knee had told her everything with frequent tears and many exclamations at her own madness and folly . It was more difficult to tell even than she had thought . When all was said about her discontent and the suddenness with which she had been urged towards a way of escape from surroundings that now seemed inexpressibly dear to her , there remained that inexcusable fault of leaving her mother without a word , for a man whom she could n't even plead that she loved .