nine o'clock
Misery went round to all the jobs the next day and told all the ` coddies ' to tell all the hands that they were never to speak to Mr Rushton if they met him in the street , and the following Saturday the man who had so offended was given his back day , ostensibly because there was nothing for him to do , but really for the reason stated above . There was one job , the outside of a large house that stood on elevated ground overlooking the town . The men who were working there were even more than usually uncomfortable , for it was said that Rushton used to sit in his office and watch them through a telescope . Sometimes , when it was really necessary to get a job done by a certain time , they had to work late , perhaps till eight or nine o'clock . No time was allowed for tea , but some of them brought sufficient food with them in the morning to enable them to have a little about six o'clock in the evening . Others arranged for their children to bring them some tea from home . As a rule , they partook of this without stopping work : they had it on the floor beside them and ate and drank and worked at the same time -- a paint-brushful of white lead in one hand , and a piece of bread and margarine in the other .