a quarter past
five before daylight
The sun , in the longitude of Polpier , was actually due to rise a few minutes before five o'clock . But Polpier -LRB- as I have told -RRB- lies in a deep cleft of the hills . Nicky-Nan 's parlour looked out on a mere slit at the bottom of that cleft ; and , moreover , the downfall of plaster blocked half the lower portion of its tiny dirty window . What with one hindrance and another , it was almost a quarter past five before daylight began to glimmer in the parlour . It found him on his knees -- not in prayer , nor in thanksgiving , but eagerly feeling over the grey pile of rubbish and digging into it with clawed fingers . An hour later , with so much of daylight about him as the window permitted , he was still on his knees . Already he had collected more than a hundred golden coins , putting them together in piles of twenty .