eight o'clock
It was only within a year or two that they had not kept an indoor servant ; and the fact of their not doing so now puzzled the gossips of Calne . The clerk 's emoluments were the same as ever ; there was no Willy to encroach on them now ; and the work of the house required a good servant . However , it pleased Mrs. Gum to have one in only by day ; and who was to interfere with her if the clerk did not ? Jabez Gum worked on for some little time after eight o'clock , the breakfast-hour . He rather wondered he was not called to it , and registered a mental vow to discharge Miss Becky . Presently he went indoors , put his head into a small sitting-room on the left , and found the room empty , but the breakfast laid . The kitchen was behind it , and Jabez Gum stalked on down the passage , and went into it .