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 an ill-humour . Perhaps Mr. Slope was not altogether wrong in his calculation .