four o'clock
`` Neither does she -- _ except Dr Campbell _ -- she digests him so well that her family would like to see her live upon him altogether . '' I began to see that I was serving as a target for my step-mother 's ridicule of something which wounded her jealous tendencies , she knew that I could make no retort for or against the absent ones at whom these sly missiles were being aimed . I knew nothing of the circumstances so broadly treated by her , and I therefore kept silent , and applied myself to my book with renewed interest , and left my step-mother mistress of the field -- there was no glory in the conquest , to speak of . Towards four o'clock of the same afternoon Freddie and I were seated upon the library floor , matching some very irregular blocks that , when rightly fitted together , would display to our eager eyes the vividly coloured representations of that classic and time-honoured tale known as the `` Death and burial of Cock Robin . '' We were progressing slowly , and had reached that very important part where the `` fly , '' as an ocular witness , gives his substantial and straightforward evidence . I had a little narrow block between my fingers , and was glancing carefully among the unused pieces for its mate , repeating abstractedly all the while : `` I , said the fly , With my little eye I saw him die . '' `` I , said the fly , with my little '' -- here the library was thrown open , and my step-mother , accompanied by a strange gentleman , walked laughingly into the room .