nine
o'clock
The ` bed-sentence ' as the children called it , was always formed in this way . Whatever the child was saying when the moment came , Mother adopted as her verb . ` Shall I put some peat on , Mother ? ' became ` Peat yourself off to bed-it 's nine o'clock ' -- and the child was sorry it had spoken . Good-byes had really been said at intervals all day long , and so to - night were slight enough ; the children , besides , were so ` excitey - tired , ' as Monkey put it , that they possessed no more emotion of any kind . There were various disagreeable things in the immediate future of To-morrow -- getting up early , school , and so forth ; and Cousin Henry 's departure they lumped in generally with the mass , accepted but unrealised . Jimbo could hardly keep his eyes alight , and Monkey 's hair was like a baby haystack the wind had treated to an equinoctial storm .