seven in the morning
But the broken husband thanked him shortly , and strode away . He had sat through the sermon without listening to a word : and now he went back to a house lonely even of God . He and Molly had been too poor to keep a servant : but on the eve of her illness a labourer 's wife had been hired to do the housework and cook the meals . And seeing his lethargy , this sensible woman , without asking questions , continued to arrive at seven in the morning and depart at seven in the evening . He ate the food she set before him . On Sunday he heard the bell ringing from his church hard by . But he had prepared no sermon : and after the bell had ceased he sat in his study before an open book , oblivious .