eight o'clock
`` Haith , mem , there 's twa sic like o ' 's ! '' returned Jean bitterly , and bounced from the room . `` That 's true tu , '' said her mistress -- adding after the door was shut , `` It 's a peety we cudna haud on thegither . '' '' gaein ' noo , Jean , '' she called into the kitchen as she crossed the threshold at eight o'clock . She turned towards the head of the street , in the direction of the manse ; but , out of the range of Jean 's vision , made a circuit , and entered Mr Mellis 's house by the garden at the back . In the parlour she found a supper prepared to celebrate the renewal of old goodwill . The clear crystal on the table ; the new loaf so brown without and so white within ; the rich , clear complexioned butter , undebased with a particle of salt ; the self satisfied hum of the kettle in attendance for the guidman 's toddy ; the bright fire , the golden glow of the brass fender in its red light , and the dish of boiled potatoes set down before it , under a snowy cloth ; the pink eggs , the yellow haddock , and the crimson strawberry jam ; all combined their influences -- each with its private pleasure wondrously heightened by the zest of a secret watch and the hope of discomfitted mischief -- to draw into a friendship what had hitherto been but a somewhat insecure neighbourship .