eight o'clock in the morning
All such provisional arrangements as these could only last till the next annual visit of H.M. Inspector , whose approval was necessary to make them permanent . Having taught for some two years in London , though she had abandoned that vocation of late , Miss Bridehead was not exactly a novice , and Phillotson thought there would be no difficulty in retaining her services , which he already wished to do , though she had only been with him three or four weeks . He had found her quite as bright as Jude had described her ; and what master-tradesman does not wish to keep an apprentice who saves him half his labour ? It was a little over half-past eight o'clock in the morning and he was waiting to see her cross the road to the school , when he would follow . At twenty minutes to nine she did cross , a light hat tossed on her head ; and he watched her as a curiosity . A new emanation , which had nothing to do with her skill as a teacher , seemed to surround her this morning . He went to the school also , and Sue remained governing her class at the other end of the room , all day under his eye .