four o'clock in
the morning
Chook caught the last tram home , and found Pinkey asleep in bed with a novelette in her hand . She had fallen asleep reading it . The noise of Chook 's entry roused her , and she stared at him , uncertain of the hour . Then , seeing him fully dressed , she decided that it was four o'clock in the morning , and that he was trying to sneak off to Paddy 's Market without her . She was awake in an instant , and her face flushed pink with anger as she jumped out of bed , indignant at being deprived of her share of the unpleasant trip to the markets . Three times a week she nerved herself for that heartbreaking journey in the raw morning air , resolved never to let Chook see her flinch from her duty . As she started to dress herself with feverish haste , Chook recovered enough from his astonishment to ask her where she was going .