"Oh, it's an absurd arrangement altogether," he continued, quite
angrily. "I can't imagine what our old man could have been
thinking of when he made it. As I have said to him, over and over
again, 'Have a fixed time, and let everybody stick to it--say four
o'clock in summer, and six in winter. Then one would know what one
was about.'"
"How do you manage when there isn't any cock handy?" I inquired.
He was on the point of replying, when again he started and
listened. This time I distinctly heard Mr. Bowles's cock, next
door, crow twice.
"There you are," he said, rising and reaching for his hat; "that's
the sort of thing we have to put up with. What IS the time?"