About the hour of eleven o'clock
As Anne experienced from her father no unnatural cruelty , no harshness , nor even indifference , she consequently loved him in return ; for she knew that tenderness from such a man was a proof of parental love rarely to be found in life . Perhaps she loved not her father the less on perceiving that he was proscribed by the world ; a circumstance which might also have enhanced in his eyes the affection she bore him . When Meehan came to Carnmore , she was sixteen ; and , as that was three years before the incident occurred on which we have founded this narrative , the reader may now suppose her to be about nineteen ; an interesting country girl , as to person , but with a mind completely neglected , yet remarkable for an uncommon stock of good nature and credulity . About the hour of eleven o'clock , one winter 's night in the beginning of December , Meehan and his brother sat moodily at their hearth . The fire was of peat which had recently been put down , and , from between the turf , the ruddy blaze was shooting out in those little tongues and , gusts of sober light , which throw around the rural hearth one of those charms which make up the felicity of domestic life . The night was stormy , and the wind moaned and howled along the dark hills beneath which the cottage stood . Every object in the house was shrouded in a mellow shade , which afforded to the eye no clear outline , except around the hearth alone , where the light brightened into a golden hue , giving the idea of calmness and peace .