eleven o'clock
He paused a moment in the parlour , and then , setting his teeth tight together , he went upstairs . First of all he went into the bit of a room opening out of theirs , in which his baby slept . He dearly loved the child , and many a time would run in and play a while with it ; and in such gambols he and Sylvia had passed their happiest moments of wedded life . The little Bella was having her morning slumber ; Nancy used to tell long afterwards how he knelt down by the side of her cot , and was so strange she thought he must have prayed , for all it was nigh upon eleven o'clock , and folk in their senses only said their prayers when they got up , and when they went to bed . Then he rose , and stooped over , and gave the child a long , lingering , soft , fond kiss . And on tip-toe he passed away into the room where his aunt lay ; his aunt who had been so true a friend to him ! He was thankful to know that in her present state she was safe from the knowledge of what was past , safe from the sound of the shame to come .