ten o'clock
It came from her husband , who had gone down the Channel as far as Budmouth with his friends in the yacht , and would not be able to get back till next day . After her light dinner Ella idled about the shore with the children till dusk , thinking of the yet uncovered photograph in her room , with a serene sense of something ecstatic to come . For , with the subtle luxuriousness of fancy in which this young woman was an adept , on learning that her husband was to be absent that night she had refrained from incontinently rushing upstairs and opening the picture-frame , preferring to reserve the inspection till she could be alone , and a more romantic tinge be imparted to the occasion by silence , candles , solemn sea and stars outside , than was afforded by the garish afternoon sunlight . The children had been sent to bed , and Ella soon followed , though it was not yet ten o'clock . To gratify her passionate curiosity she now made her preparations , first getting rid of superfluous garments and putting on her dressing-gown , then arranging a chair in front of the table and reading several pages of Trewe 's tenderest utterances . Then she fetched the portrait-frame to the light , opened the back , took out the likeness , and set it up before her . It was a striking countenance to look upon .