nine o'clock, sat
`` When your father sends me . '' And I felt that HE felt that our intercourse was always to be limited to this . Nothing clandestine , nothing obtrusive , was possible , even for friendship 's sake , to John Halifax . My father came in late that evening ; he looked tired and uneasy , and instead of going to bed , though it was after nine o'clock , sat down to his pipe in the chimney-corner . `` Is the river rising still , father ? Will it do any harm to the tan-yard ? '' `` What dost thee know about the tan-yard ! ''