seven o’clock
The only concession they made to the spirit of the age was to drink tea in the evening , though they always considered it an indulgence , and were convinced that the nation was deteriorating , owing to the use of this `` Chinese herb . '' On the whole , they refrained from criticising modern times or from exulting their own . They had lived like this all their lives , but that others might live in a different and even better way they were quite willing to admit , so long as they were not compelled to conform to it . At seven o'clock Kalliopitch produced the inevitable supper of cold hash , and at nine the high striped feather-bed received their rotund little bodies in its soft embrace , and a calm , untroubled sleep soon descended upon their eyelids . Everything in the little house became hushed ; the little lamp before the icon glowed and glimmered , the funny innocent little pair slept the sound sleep of the just , amidst the fragrant scent of musk and the chirping of the cricket . To these two odd little people , or poll-parrots as Paklin called them , who were taking care of his sister , he now conducted his friends . Paklin 's sister was a clever girl with a fairly attractive face .