ten o'clock
That comes from living on Salisbury Plain , far from the madding crowd . ' After this they went home , watching the golden summer moon rise above the pine-clad Hanger as they went . They found Lady Palliser nodding in her arm-chair in front of the low tea table , the teapot still intact . It was ten o'clock , but Brian had not come in to talk to her after her tea . John Jardine went in quest of him , and found him in the dining-room , mooning over his wine . He murmured a vague excuse about feeling too tired to talk to anybody , and then bade Mr. Jardine good night , and went up to his room ; not to sleep , but to fling the window wide open , and lean his elbows on the sill , and stare out into the exquisite summer night , the leafy wood , the moon-kissed crest of the hill , in a half-dreamy , half-hysterical state of mind . ` I begin to think I am like Swift , and shall go first at top , ' he said to himself ; ` this quiet life is killing ; and yet if I was to go back I should be worse .