two o'clock in the morning
But soon her intense interest in the story excluded every other idea -- even the fear of discovery . Her young spirit was `` out of the body '' and following , as in a trance , this tale , the like of which she had never before read . The clock down-stairs in the kitchen struck twelve -- one -- two , but Tillie never heard it . At half-past two o'clock in the morning , when the tallow candle was beginning to sputter to its end , she still was reading , her eyes bright as stars , her usually pale face flushed with excitement , her sensitive lips parted in breathless interest -- when , suddenly , a stinging blow of `` the strap '' on her shoulders brought from her a cry of pain and fright . `` What you mean , doin ' somepin like , this yet ! '' sternly demanded her father . `` What fur book 's that there ? ''