About eight o'clock
-- he hearkened for every word of Miss St. John , combated every fault , and undermined every awkwardness with earnest patience . Nothing delighted Robert so much as to give himself up to one greater . His mistress was thoroughly pleased , and even Mrs. Forsyth gave him two of her soft finger tips to do something or other with -- Robert did not know what , and let them go . About eight o'clock that same evening , his heart beating like a captured bird 's , he crept from grannie 's parlour , past the kitchen , and up the low stair to the mysterious door . He had been trying for an hour to summon up courage to rise , feeling as if his grandmother must suspect where he was going . Arrived at the barrier , twice his courage failed him ; twice he turned and sped back to the parlour . A third time he made the essay , a third time stood at the wondrous door -- so long as blank as a wall to his careless eyes , now like the door of the magic Sesame that led to the treasure-cave of Ali Baba .