ten o'clock
This ceremony was common to all ; but here divergence set in . The grey Auld Licht , to whom love was not even a name , sat in his high-backed arm-chair by the hearth , Bible or `` Pilgrim 's Progress '' in hand , occasionally lapsing into slumber . But -- though , when they got the chance , they went willingly three times to the kirk -- there were young men in the community so flighty that , instead of dozing at home on Saturday night , they dandered casually into the square , and , forming into knots at the corners , talked solemnly and mysteriously of women . Not even on the night preceding his wedding was an Auld Licht ever known to stay out after ten o'clock . So weekly conclaves at street-corners came to an end at a comparatively early hour , one Coelebs after another shuffling silently from the square until it echoed , deserted , to the town-house clock . The last of the gallants , gradually discovering that he was alone , would look around him musingly , and , taking in the situation , slowly wend his way home . On no other night of the week was frivolous talk about the softer sex indulged in , the Auld Lichts being creatures of habit who never thought of smiling on a Monday .