midnight
Mr. Perkins , gloomy and morose , wrote reams of poetry in his own room , distressed beyond measure by the rumble of the typewriter , but too much cast down to demand that it be stopped . Mrs. Dodd and Mrs. Holmes , closely united through misfortune , were well-nigh inseparable now , while Mrs. Smithers , still sepulchral , sang continually in a loud , cracked voice , never by any chance happening upon the right note . As Dorothy said , when there are only eight tones in the octave , it would seem that sometime , somewhere , a warbler must coincide for a brief interval with the tune , but as Dick further commented , industry and patience can do wonders when rightly exercised . Uncle Israel 's midnight excursion to the orchard had given him a fresh attack of a familiar and distressing ailment to which he always alluded as `` the brown kittys . '' Fortunately , however , the cure for asthma and bronchitis was contained in the same quart bottle , and needed only to be heated in order to work upon both diseases simultaneously . Elaine rolled up the sleeves of her white shirt-waist , and turned in her collar , thereby producing an effect which Dick privately considered distractingly pretty . Dorothy was enveloped from head to foot in a voluminous blue gingham apron , and a dust cap , airily poised upon her smooth brown hair , completed a most becoming costume .