nine o'clock
It was `` a small party , '' I found , when you were in the house and the rest were out of doors , but otherwise everybody was there -- and nearly everybody else . The trees were all lights and flowers ; and supper tables stood ready from the first ; and you know what the moon was . So altogether , ' said Miss Hazel , ` it was hard to remember anything about time , and especially to find out . I fancied that Mrs. Merrick had told about my going early , -- watches seemed so very uncertain , and so many of them had stopped at nine o'clock . It was only by a chance overhearing that I knew when it was half-past ten . I lost just a few minutes then , manoeuvring , -- for I did not want `` everybody '' to see me to the carriage ; but when I had vanished into the house , and found Mrs. Merrick , Miss Bird was not there . She had gone home an hour before , her head being worse , they said . '