twenty-five past six
He is very troubled because I never won the Victoria Cross , for it lowers his status in the Gardens . He never says in the Gardens that I won it , but he fights any boy of his year who says I did n't . Their fighting consists of challenging each other . At twenty-five past six I turned on the hot water in the bath , and covertly swallowed a small glass of brandy . I then said , `` Half-past six ; time for little boys to be in bed . '' I said it in the matter-of-fact voice of one made free of the company of parents , as if I had said it often before , and would have to say it often again , and as if there was nothing particularly delicious to me in hearing myself say it . I tried to say it in that way .