eight o'clock
Sickness she could bear , or death if it should come , because they were factors of the common lot ; but it had never occurred to her that so resplendent a thing as a silver tea-set could belong to any one and then be reft away . The dusk gathered and thickened . The frogs were peeping down by the old willows , and for the first time in her life the melancholy of early spring lay cold upon her heart . It was perhaps eight o'clock when she heard a hand at the door . `` Ann ! '' called Mrs. John C. `` Ann , you there ? '' Ann rose heavily .