nine
o'clock
The little brass lamp in her hand made a pitiful wavering . `` Of course I can help you . I 'd have been in before this , only I -- I -- was kind of worried about something else , and I forgot , '' declared Johnnie , strengthening her heart to endure the necessary postponement of her purpose . She went into the kitchen with Mavity Bence , and the two women worked there at the dishes , and washing out the towels , till after nine o'clock , Johnnie 's anxiety and distress mounting with every minute of delay . At a little past nine , she left poor Mavity at the door of that wretched place the poor woman called her room , looked quietly in to see that her mother seemed to sleep , got her hat and hurried out , goaded by a seemingly disproportionate fever of impatience and anxiety . She took her way up the little hill and across the slope to where the Hardwick mansion gleamed , many-windowed , gay with lights , behind its evergreens . When she reached the house itself she found an evening reception going forward -- the Hardwicks were entertaining the Lyric Club .