three o’clock in the morning
And he said it was quite plain that he could not succeed in anything imaginative till his health and spirits had recovered from the blow ; but he was ready to do anything . So Dr. Medlicott brought in one day a medical lecture that he wanted to have translated from the German , and told Allen that it would be well paid for . He began , but it made his head ache ; it was not a subject that he could well turn over to Babie ; and when Jock brought a message to say the translation must be ready the next day , only a quarter had been attempted . Jock sat up till three o'clock in the morning and finished it , but he could not pain his mother by letting her know that her son had again failed , so Allen had the money , and really believed , as he said , that all Jock had done was to put the extreme end to it , and correct the medical lingo of which he could not be expected to know anything . Allen was always so gentle , courteous , and melancholy , that every one was getting out of the habit of expecting him to do anything but bring home news , discover anything worth going to see , sit at the foot of the table , and give his verdict on the cookery . Babie indeed was sometimes provoked into snapping at him , but he bore it with the amiable magnanimity of one who could forgive a petulant child , ignorant of what he suffered . Jock was borne up by a great pleasure that winter .