midnight
Then there were Jack 's lessons to superintend , and sometimes I had to help Dot with his drawing , or copy out papers for Uncle Geoffrey : then by-and-by Dot had to be taken upstairs , and there were little things to do for mother when Carrie was too tired or busy to do them . Mother was Carrie 's charge . As Dot and Jack were mine , it was a fair division of labor , only somehow Carrie had always so much to do . Mother used to fret sometimes about it , and complain that Carrie sat up too late burning the midnight oil in her little room ; but I never could find out what kept her up . I was much happier about Carrie now -- she seemed brighter and in better spirits . If she loathed her daily drudgery , she said little about it , and complained less . All her interests were reserved for Nightingale lane and Rowley street .