nine o’clock
The boy Richard , shut out from the companionship of his fellows , had a great love of books . When he left school his father did not know what to do with him -- in fact there was only one occupation open to him , and that was clerical work of one kind or another . At last he got a place in a house in Fleet Street , which did a large business in those days in sending newspapers into the country . His whole occupation all day long was to write addresses , and for this he received twenty-five shillings a week , his hours being from nine o'clock till seven . The office in which he sat was crowded , and in order to squeeze the staff into the smallest space , rent being dear , a gallery had been run round the wall about four feet from the ceiling . This was provided with desks and gas lamps , and up there Clark sat , artificial light being necessary four days out of five . He came straight from the town in which his father lived to Fleet Street , and once settled in it there seemed no chance of change for the better .