about six
o'clock in the evening
The first-mentioned part of his task proved very much more difficult than the other , for Mrs Maitland was rather a helpless kind of person , and had already come to look to Dick for advice and help in every sort of difficulty , whether great or small ; the prospect , therefore , of being henceforth obliged to look after herself and manage her affairs unaided filled her at first with dismay . Besides , there was the separation from her son , the feeling that she knew not whether she would ever again set eyes on him in this world , and the terrible uncertainty generally of the future , to further distract her ; but at length the buoyancy and unquenchable hopefulness of Dick 's spirit had its effect upon her ; and , finally , when the moment of parting came , she had been brought to a frame of mind that enabled her to say the last words of farewell almost with calmness . As for Dick , he had already received Humphreys ' assurance that he would keep in touch with Mrs Maitland , and see , in conjunction with his friend Graham , the solicitor , that she came to no harm ; therefore he had few fears for her immediate future ; while , for the rest , he was confident that before his mother 's little capital became exhausted he would have found means to replenish it . He spent with her the remainder of the day upon which he had interviewed the skipper of the _ Concordia _ , and practically the whole of that which succeeded it , finally bidding her farewell about six o'clock in the evening , in order that he might spend the remainder of the day with Humphreys , with whom he had still much of importance to discuss . Upon Dick 's return to Number 19 Paradise Street he found the genial Doctor so busily engaged in dispensing drugs and advice that the two had time for little more than a mutual nod of greeting ; but later on , when the last patient had departed and business had been brought to a close for the night , they sat down together for a chat over a cup of coffee and -- so far as Humphreys was concerned -- a pipe . Dick had not yet taken to tobacco , and Humphreys , although an inveterate smoker himself , so far from urging his young friend to adopt the habit , had strongly dissuaded him from having anything to do with the weed , at least until he had reached his twenty-first birthday , learnedly descanting upon the injurious effects of nicotine upon the immature constitution , and incidentally warning him to eschew narcotics generally , which , he insisted , were always injurious , and only to be resorted to , even medically , when it became a choice between a narcotic and some greater evil . `` Well , my boy , '' remarked the Doctor , when they were at length comfortably settled in their respective chairs , `` so you have parted with your mother .