seven o'clock
`` Since I won in the lottery I 've become a regular little miser . It 's growing on me , but never mind , it 's a good fault , and , anyhow , I ca n't help it . '' On that particular morning the McTeagues had risen a half hour earlier than usual and taken a hurried breakfast in the kitchen on the deal table with its oilcloth cover . Trina was house-cleaning that week and had a presentiment of a hard day 's work ahead of her , while McTeague remembered a seven o'clock appointment with a little German shoemaker . At about eight o'clock , when the dentist had been in his office for over an hour , Trina descended upon the bedroom , a towel about her head and the roller-sweeper in her hand . She covered the bureau and sewing machine with sheets , and unhooked the chenille portieres between the bedroom and the sitting-room . As she was tying the Nottingham lace curtains at the window into great knots , she saw old Miss Baker on the opposite sidewalk in the street below , and raising the sash called down to her .