four o'clock
Was there ever such an uproar ! '' exclaimed Martie , ceasing her operations at the machine and leaning back in her chair with a long sigh . The lengths of flimsy white curtaining she had been hemming slipped to the floor ; she put her hands behind her head , and yawned luxuriously . The room was close , and even at four o'clock there was need of lights ; its other occupants were only two , the child who played with the small gray and red stone blocks upon the floor , and the old woman who was peering through her glasses at the curtaining that lay across her lap , and manipulating it with knotted hands . Mrs. Curley was `` Nana '' to little Teddy Bannister now , and this shabby room overlooking a cemented area , and with its windows safeguarded by curved ornamental iron bars from attack from the street , would be his first memory of life . But it was a comfortable room ; once the dining room , it had been changed and papered and carpeted for its present tenants when Martie , as housekeeper of the boarding-house , had decided to move the dining room into the big , useless rear parlour upstairs . She and Teddy had privacy here ; they had plenty of room , and the feet that crisped by on the sidewalk , the noises from the kitchen behind her , and the squeaking of rats about the basement entrance at night annoyed her not at all .