nearly midnight before
As Peepy cried for me to take him to bed , I carried him upstairs , where the young woman with the flannel bandage charged into the midst of the little family like a dragon and overturned them into cribs . After that I occupied myself in making our room a little tidy and in coaxing a very cross fire that had been lighted to burn , which at last it did , quite brightly . On my return downstairs , I felt that Mrs. Jellyby looked down upon me rather for being so frivolous , and I was sorry for it , though at the same time I knew that I had no higher pretensions . It was nearly midnight before we found an opportunity of going to bed , and even then we left Mrs. Jellyby among her papers drinking coffee and Miss Jellyby biting the feather of her pen . `` What a strange house ! '' said Ada when we got upstairs . `` How curious of my cousin Jarndyce to send us here ! ''