nine o'clock
-LSB- Sidenote : Alone -RSB- Afterward , he sat at the piano , improvising low , sweet chords that echoed back plaintively from the dingy walls . The music was full of questioning , of pleading , of longing so deep that it was almost prayer . Barbara finished her letters by the light of the lamp , while Miriam sat in the dining-room alone , asking herself the old , torturing questions , facing her temptation , and bearing the old , terrible hunger of the heart that hurt her like physical pain . A little before nine o'clock , the blind man came to kiss Barbara good-night . Then he went upstairs . Miriam came in and talked a few minutes of quilts , pickles , and lingerie , then she , too , went up to begin her usual restless night . Left alone , Barbara discovered that she did not care to read .