10 p.m.
`` When you 've finished making that mess worse than it is , '' said Meldon , `` and covering your own fingers all over with ink in such a way that it will take days of careful rubbing with pumice-stone to get them clean , perhaps you 'll go on telling me why you call this fellow Simpkins a meddlesome ass . I was up early this morning , owing to the baby 's being restless during the night . Did I mention to you that she 's got whooping-cough ? Well , she has , and it takes her in the form of a rapid succession of fits , beginning at 10 p.m. and lasting till eight the next morning . That was what happened last night , so , as you 'll readily understand , I want to get to bed in good time to-night . It may , it probably will , take hours to drag your grievance out of you , and I do n't see any use in wasting time at the start . '' `` I paid twenty guineas for that carpet , '' said the Major .