ten o'clock
`` She was tired to-night , '' said Mr Benson . `` We are all tired ; so if you have done your work , Sally , come in to reading . '' The three quiet people knelt down side by side , and two of them prayed earnestly for `` them that had gone astray . '' Before ten o'clock , the household were in bed . Ruth , sleepless , weary , restless with the oppression of a sorrow which she dared not face and contemplate bravely , kept awake all the early part of the night . Many a time did she rise , and go to the long casement window , and look abroad over the still and quiet town -- over the grey stone walls , and chimneys , and old high-pointed roofs -- on to the far-away hilly line of the horizon , lying calm under the bright moonshine . It was late in the morning when she woke from her long-deferred slumbers ; and when she went downstairs , she found Mr and Miss Benson awaiting her in the parlour .