eight o'clock
First of all , let me conclude the history of the Grandmother . Next day she lost every gulden that she possessed . Things were bound to happen so , for persons of her type who have once entered upon that road descend it with ever-increasing rapidity , even as a sledge descends a toboggan-slide . All day until eight o'clock that evening did she play ; and , though I personally did not witness her exploits , I learnt of them later through report . All that day Potapitch remained in attendance upon her ; but the Poles who directed her play she changed more than once . As a beginning she dismissed her Pole of the previous day -- the Pole whose hair she had pulled -- and took to herself another one ; but the latter proved worse even than the former , and incurred dismissal in favour of the first Pole , who , during the time of his unemployment , had nevertheless hovered around the Grandmother 's chair , and from time to time obtruded his head over her shoulder . At length the old lady became desperate , for the second Pole , when dismissed , imitated his predecessor by declining to go away ; with the result that one Pole remained standing on the right of the victim , and the other on her left ; from which vantage points the pair quarrelled , abused each other concerning the stakes and rounds , and exchanged the epithet `` laidak '' -LSB- Rascal -RSB- and other Polish terms of endearment .