about eight o'clock
Many an Ayrshire and Hereford has had the hollow-horn and the foot-rot . Both man and animal are valuable in proportion as they are useful . `` Mike 's '' cow beat my full-blooded . We have an earlier tea this evening than usual , for we have a literary friend who comes about this time of the week , and he must go home to retire about eight o'clock . His nervous system is so weak that he must get three or four hours sleep before midnight ; otherwise he is next day so cross and censorious he scalps every author he can lay his hand on . As he put his hand on the table with an indelible blot of ink on his thumb and two fingers , which blot he had not been able to wash off , I said , `` Well , my old friend Leatherbacks , what books have you been reading to-day ? '' He replied , `` I have been reading ` Men and Things . '