Nine o'clock
His interests and hers were absolutely dissimilar . The children he seldom spoke to but to reprove ; while Howard , the son , the ten-year-old and terrible infant of the household , he always referred to as `` that boy . '' He was an abstracted , self-centred old man , with but two hobbies -- homoeopathy and the mechanism of clocks . But he had a strange way of talking to himself in a low voice , keeping up a running , half-whispered comment upon his own doings and actions ; as , for instance , upon this occasion : `` Nine o'clock -- the clock 's a little fast . I think I 'll wind my watch . No , I 've forgotten my watch . Watermelon this morning , eh ?