eight o’clock
`` No , '' said Rachel ; and something withheld her from disclaiming such empty employments . Indeed , she was presently much interested in the admirable portraiture of `` Silas Marner , '' and still more by the keen , vivid enjoyment , critical , droll , and moralizing , displayed by a man who heard works of fiction so rarely that they were always fresh to him , and who looked on them as studies of life . His hands were busy all the time carving a boss for the roof of one of the side aisles of his church -- the last step in its gradual restoration . That night there was no excitement of nerve , no morbid fancy to trouble Rachel 's slumbers ; she only awoke as the eight o'clock bell sounded through the open window , and for the first time for months rose less weary than she had gone to rest . Week-day though it were , the description `` sweet day , so calm , so cool , so bright , '' constantly recurred to her mind as she watched the quiet course of occupation . Alick , after escorting his uncle to a cottage , found her searching among the stores in the music stand . `` You unmusical female , '' he said , `` what is that for ? ''