ten o'clock
Doubtless to some secret place that had an important bearing on his life and occupation . It would be worth while , Josie believed , to discover the object of these midnight excursions . Ingua claimed that her grandfather 's periods of wakeful walking were irregular ; sometimes he would be gone night after night , and then for weeks he would remain at home and sleep like other folks . So Josie was not surprised when old Swallowtail 's light was extinguished shortly after ten o'clock and from then until midnight he had not left the house . Evidently this was not one of his `` wakeful '' periods . The girl 's eyes , during this time , never left the door of the cottage . The path to the bridge passed her scarcely five yards distant .