seven
o'clock
My work at Hawk Street , my residence at Mrs Nash 's , my eight shillings a week , I had yet to find out what they all meant ; at present all was blank -- all , that is , except one spot , and that was the spot occupied by my friend Smith . I could reckon on him , I knew , whatever else failed me . I caught my train without much difficulty , as I was at the station at least half an hour before it was due , and had a third-class carriage to myself all the way to London . There were not many people travelling at that early hour , and when I reached the great metropolis at seven o'clock the station and streets looked almost as deserted as on the former occasion they had been crowded . Mrs Nash 's residence , so the card said , was in Beadle Square , wherever that might be . I was , however , spared the anxiety of hunting the place up , for my uncle had authorised me to spend a shilling in a cab for the occasion ; and thus conveyed , after twistings and turnings which positively made my head ache , I arrived in state at my future lodging . The `` square '' was , like many other City squares , a collection of tumbledown dingy houses built round an open space which might once have contained nothing but green grass and trees , but was now utterly destitute of either .