nine o'clock
And Norma indulged in a little dream of herself nursing and cooking in the Barrys ' six little cluttered rooms , and earning golden opinions from all the group . There was money , too ; she had not used all of October 's allowance , and to-morrow would find another big check at the bank . Wolf interrupted by coming in so tired he could hardly move . He ate his dinner , yawned amiably in the kitchen while she cleared it away , and was so sound asleep at nine o'clock that Norma 's bedside light and the rustling of the pages of her book , three feet away from his face , had no more effect upon him than if the three feet had been three hundred . And then the bitter mood came back to her again ; the bored , restless , impatient feeling that her life was a stupid affair . And deep in her heart the sense of hurt and humiliation grew and spread ; the thought that she was not of the charmed circle of the Melroses , not secretly and romantically akin to them , she was merely the casual object of the old lady 's fantastic sense of obligation . Aunt Kate , who had never said what was untrue -- who , Norma and her children firmly believed , could not say what was untrue -- had taken away , once and for all , the veil of mystery and romance that had wrapped Norma for three exciting years .