nine o’clock
There was nothing remaining for him to stay up for , when he had finished tinkering , and had skimmed the headlines of the newspaper . And the children felt secure when their father was in bed . They lay and talked softly awhile . Then they started as the lights went suddenly sprawling over the ceiling from the lamps that swung in the hands of the colliers tramping by outside , going to take the nine o'clock shift . They listened to the voices of the men , imagined them dipping down into the dark valley . Sometimes they went to the window and watched the three or four lamps growing tinier and tinier , swaying down the fields in the darkness . Then it was a joy to rush back to bed and cuddle closely in the warmth .