four o’clock in the morning
`` Der teufel , '' said Kolb ; `` dot is your own bassion for de liddle goldfinches . '' `` Go back to bed again , father , '' said David ; `` lock us in if you will , but you may save yourself the trouble of coming down again . Kolb will mount guard . '' At four o'clock in the morning David came out of the distillery ; he had been careful to leave no sign of his occupation behind him ; but he brought out some thirty sheets of paper that left nothing to be desired in fineness , whiteness , toughness , and strength , all of them bearing by way of water-mark the impress of the uneven hairs of the sieve . The old man took up the samples and put his tongue to them , the lifelong habit of the pressman , who tests papers in this way . He felt it between his thumb and finger , crumpled and creased it , put it through all the trials by which a printer assays the quality of a sample submitted to him , and when it was found wanting in no respect , he still would not allow that he was beaten . `` We have yet to know how it takes an impression , '' he said , to avoid praising his son .