twelve o’clock
''' And I was glad I 'd owned up , for Father slapped me on the back , and said I was a young brick , and our robber said I was no funk anyway , and though I got very hot under the blanket I liked it , and I explained that the others would have done the same if they had thought of it . Then Father got up some more beer , and laughed about Dora 's responsibility , and he got out a box of figs he had bought for us , only he had n't given it to us because of the Water Rates , and Eliza came in and brought up the bread and cheese , and what there was left of the neck of mutton -- cold wreck of mutton , Father called it -- and we had a feast -- like a picnic -- all sitting anywhere , and eating with our fingers . It was prime . We sat up till past twelve o'clock , and I never felt so pleased to think I was not born a girl . It was hard on the others ; they would have done just the same if they 'd thought of it . But it does make you feel jolly when your pater says you 're a young brick ! When Mr Foulkes was going , he said to Alice , ` Good-bye , Hardy . '