four in the morning
His hours were most irregular . Sometimes he was off to work early in the morning . Again he would not rise until noon . Sometimes he did not go to the office after dinner , and again he came hurriedly to dinner , not having the time to dress , and left immediately afterward to be gone until two , three or even four in the morning . At first Marian tried to follow his irregularities ; but she was soon compelled to give up . As he most often breakfasted about ten o'clock , she arranged to breakfast regularly at that hour . If he was not yet up , she waited about the house until she had seen him , listened while he talked of those `` everlasting newspapers , '' praised his work a great deal , criticised it little and that gently .