For in somewhat the same way as rodents may quietly set up house-keeping in one's clothing during the hours of darkness, an idea had established itself in Eliza's mind while she had been asleep. She did not become fully conscious of this idea until a few minutes later when she went into the great room to stoke up the fire, and saw all of Huygens's clocks reading the same time: a few minutes past nine o'clock in the morning.