nine o'clock
` What , ' said he to himself , ` can a man 's religion be worth , if it does not support him against the natural melancholy of declining years ? ' and , as he looked out through his dimmed eyes into the bright parterres of the bishop 's garden , he felt that he had the support which he wanted . Nevertheless , he did not like to be thus kept waiting . If Mr Slope did not really wish to see him at half-past nine o'clock , why force him to come away from his lodgings with his breakfast in his throat ? To tell the truth , it was policy on the part of Mr Slope . Mr Slope had made up his mind that Mr Harding should either accept the hospital with abject submission , or else refuse it altogether ; and had calculated that he would probably be more quick to do the latter , if he could be got to enter upon the subject in all ill-humour . Perhaps Mr Slope was not altogether wrong in his calculation .