eleven o'clock at night
`` Ay , you have now your hand on the cocked egg , '' replied she , with a look of mystery . `` The other was a wind ane , and you 've just to sit a little and you 'll see the chick . '' The writer settled himself into attention , and the good dame thought it proper , like some preachers who pause two or three minutes -LRB- the best part of their discourse -RRB- after they have given out the text , to raise a wonder how long they intend to hold their tongue , and thereby produce attention , to retain her speech until she had attained the due solemnity . `` It is now , '' she began , in a low mysterious voice , `` just sixteen years come June , -- and if ye want the day , it will be the 15th , -- and if ye want the hour , we may say eleven o'clock at night , when I was making ready for my bed , -- I heard a knock at my door , and the words of a woman , ` Oh , Mrs. Hislop , Mrs. Hislop ! ' So I ran and opened the door ; and wha think ye I saw but Jean Graham , Mr. Napier 's cook , with een like twa candles , and her mouth as wide as if she had been to swallow the biggest sup of porridge that ever crossed ploughman 's craig ? '' '' ` What 's ado , woman ? ' said I , for I thought something fearful had happened . ''