ten o'clock
Take care , take care ! Humble 's the word ! That `` mystery about pianos '' which troubled Bibbs had been a mystery to Mr. Vertrees , and it was being explained to him at about the time Bibbs scribbled the reference to it in his notes . Mary had gone up-stairs upon Bibbs 's departure at ten o'clock , and Mr. and Mrs. Vertrees sat until after midnight in the library , talking . And in all that time they found not one cheerful topic , but became more depressed with everything and with every phase of everything that they discussed -- no extraordinary state of affairs in a family which has always `` held up its head , '' only to arrive in the end at a point where all it can do is to look on helplessly at the processes of its own financial dissolution . For that was the point which this despairing couple had reached -- they could do nothing except look on and talk about it . They were only vaporing , and they knew it .