ten
o’clock
`` Very well , '' she said . `` We 'll give you six months . '' I had , I am bound to say , a very pleasant and undisturbed life during the six months allowed me by Lalage . I did my writing , for the most part , in the morning , working at the Dutch marquetry bureau from ten o'clock until shortly after noon . I soon came to find a great deal of pleasure in my work . The only thing which ever put me out of temper was the picture of Milton dictating to two plump young women who had taken off their bodices in order to write with more freedom . If there are any peevish or ill-humoured passages in my book they are to be attributed entirely to the influence of that picture , chiefly to the tousled look of the younger daughter .