about
ten o'clock
`` Thanks , '' said Frank , `` but it 's not my line . '' -LRB- IV -RRB- The morning , too , was a little trying . Frank had passed a tolerable night . The Major had retired upstairs about ten o'clock , taking his socks with him , presumably to sleep in them , and Frank had heard him creaking about upstairs for a minute or two ; there had followed two clumps as the boots were thrown off ; a board suddenly spoke loudly ; there was a little talking -- obviously the Major had awakened Gertie in order to make a remark or two -- and then silence . Frank had not slept for half an hour ; he was thinking , with some depression , of the dreary affair into which he had been initiated , of the Major , and of Gertie , for whom he was beginning to be sorry . He did not suppose that the man actually bullied her ; probably he had done this sufficiently for the present -- she was certainly very quiet and subdued -- or perhaps she really admired him , and thought it rather magnificent to travel about with an ex-officer . Anyhow , it was rather deplorable ... * * * * * When he awoke next morning , the depression was on him still ; and it was not lifted by the apparition of Gertie on which he opened his eyes from his corner , in an amazingly dirty petticoat , bare-armed , with her hair in a thick untidy pig-tail , trying to blow the fire into warmth again .