eight o'clock
`` I have just remembered that I had asked you down-town for supper . '' `` I would rather thank God fasting , '' I replied , very softly , and hung the receiver on its hook . In a corner of Frau Nirlanger 's bedroom , sheltered from draughts and glaring light , is a little wooden bed , painted blue and ornamented with stout red roses that are faded by time and much abuse . Every evening at eight o'clock three anxious-browed women hold low-spoken conclave about the quaint old bed , while its occupant sleeps and smiles as he sleeps , and clasps to his breast a chewed-looking woolly dog . For a new joy has come to the sad little Frau Nirlanger , and I , quite by accident , was the cause of bringing it to her . The queer little blue bed , with its faded roses , was brought down from the attic by Frau Knapf , for she is one of the three foster mothers of the small occupant of the bed . The occupant of the bed is named Bennie , and a corporation formed for the purpose of bringing him up in the way he should go is composed of : Dawn O'Hara Orme , President and Distracted Guardian ; Mrs. Konrad Nirlanger , Cuddler-in-chief and Authority on the Subject of Bennie 's Bed-time ; Mr. Blackie Griffith , Good Angel , General Cut-up and Monitor off 'n Bennie 's Neckties and Toys ; Dr. Ernst von Gerhard , Chief Medical Adviser , and Sweller of the Exchequer , with the Privilege of Selecting All Candies .