General Trednoke's household went early to bed.

As there was more accommodation in the old house than sufficed for its present inhabitants, it followed that each of them had a regal allowance of rooms.

And when Grace Parsloe became one of the occupants, she was allotted two commodious apartments at the extremity of the left wing.
They communicated, through long windows, with the veranda in front, and by means of doors with the passage, or hall, traversing the house from end to end.

If, therefore, she happened to be sleepless, she might issue forth into the garden, and wander about there without let or hinderance until she was ready to accept the wooing of the god of dreams; or, if supernatural terrors daunted her, she could in a few seconds transfer herself and her fears to Miriam's chamber, which occupied the same position in the right wing that hers did in the left.
The night, as is customary in that climate, where the atmosphere is pure and evaporation rapid, was cool and still.

By ten o'clock there was no sound to indicate that any person was awake; though, to an acute ear, the rise and fall of regular breathing, or even an occasional snore, might have given evidence of slumber.