Nine o'clock
`` And now we can talk ! '' Linda said at last , when the kitchen was dark and hot and orderly , and the children gone upstairs to bed in hot darkness , and she and Harriet had taken the seats on the small , hot porch . `` This is a terrible night -- nine o'clock -- and they are hardly settled off yet ! '' Nine o'clock . They would still be at dinner at Crownlands , and the river breeze would be blowing the thin curtains of Harriet 's French windows straight into the cool , fresh room . She would be out on the porch , now , looking at the river lights , her book forgotten in her lap . At the head of the table Richard Carter would be sitting , in his cool and immaculate white , and at the foot , sparkling and beautiful , with her fresh bare arms and her firm bare shoulders , her exquisitely modelled hair and her bright eyes , Isabelle .