eight o'clock
She was a meagre , hollow-eyed , bloodless girl of seventeen , yet her features had a certain charm -- that dolorous kind of prettiness which is often enough seen in the London needle-slave . Her habitual look was one of meaningless surprise ; whatever she gazed upon seemed a source of astonishment to her , and when she laughed , which was not very often , her eyes grew wider than ever . Her attire was miserable , but there were signs that she tried to keep it in order ; the boots upon her feet were sewn and patched into shapelessness ; her limp straw hat had just received a new binding . By saying that she had things ` to put away , ' she meant that her business was with the pawnbroker , who could not receive pledges after eight o'clock . It wanted some ten minutes of the hour when she entered a side-doorway , and , by an inner door , passed into one of a series of compartments constructed before the pawnbroker 's counter . She deposited her bundle , and looked about for someone to attend to her . Two young men were in sight , both transacting business ; one was conversing facetiously with a customer on the subject of a pledge .