about eight
o'clock
For a time he would go on country journeys . Bessie assented sullenly , but , strange to say , she had never been in better spirits than on the day after this decision had been arrived at . On that day , however -- it was early in March -- an annoying incident happened . Mr. Scawthorne , who always dined in town and seldom returned to his lodgings till late in the evening , rang his bell about eight o'clock and sent a message by the servant that he wished to see Mrs. Byass . Bessie having come up , he announced to her with gravity that his tenancy of the rooms would be at an end in a fortnight . Various considerations necessitated his living in a different part of London . Bessie frankly lamented ; she would never again find such an estimable lodger .