nine o'clock
He lost the toss . `` Then I 'll catch it , '' I said , laughing at his discomfiture , for I knew he loathed stirring porridge . `` And mind you do n't burn it as you did every blessed time last year on the Volga , '' I added by way of reminder . Mrs. Maloney 's fifth interruption about the door of her tent , and her further pointed observation that it was past nine o'clock , set us lighting lanterns and putting the fire out for safety . But before we separated for the night the clergyman had a time-honoured little ritual of his own to go through that no one had the heart to deny him . He always did this . It was a relic of his pulpit habits .