nine o'clock in the morning
There was a partition about eight feet high down the middle of this room . Beds stood in rows , back to back , at each side of this partition ; beds stood in rows along the walls ; there were narrow passages between the long rows of beds . The room was lighted with many windows high up in the walls , and there was a huge fireplace at either end . By a curious arrangement , which could scarcely be considered indulgent , the fires in very cold weather were lit at nine o'clock in the morning , after the paupers had gone downstairs , and put out again at five in the afternoon . Why the old creatures might not have had the comfort of the fires when they were in their ward , it was difficult to say , but such was the rule of the place . Grannie 's bed was just under one of the windows , and when she went upstairs the first night , the chill , of which she had complained ever since she had taken her bath , kept her awake during the greater part of the hours of darkness . There were plenty of blankets on her little bed , but they did not seem to warm her .