eleven o'clock
He raised his cup to his lips , took a sip , and set it down again . `` Why on earth , '' said he with some petulance , `` ca n't mother give us decent coffee ? '' Dick went heavy-hearted to bed that night , pronouncing himself to be the most abjectly miserable of God 's creatures , and calling on Providence to remove him speedily from an unsympathetic world . He had said good night to the ladies at eleven o'clock when the three went upstairs to bed , and had forthwith gone to spend the rest of the evening in the friendly solitude of his armoury . Emerging thence an hour later into the hall , he had come upon a picturesque , but heart-rending , spectacle . There , on the third step of the grand staircase , stood Viviette , holding in one hand a candle , and extending the other regally downwards to Austin , who , with sleek head bent , was pressing it to his lips . In the candle-light her hair threw disconcerting shadows over her elfin face , and her great eyes seemed to glow with a magical intensity that poor Dick had never seen in them before .