six o'clock
And now the time had come for the removal , and the evening previous to the departure from the old home , `` the Golden Shoemaker '' paid his last visit , in the capacity of neighbour , to the worthy little twins . He had long known that they had a constant struggle to make their way . He had often assisted them as far as his own hitherto humble means would allow ; and now , he had resolved that before leaving the neighbourhood , he would make them such a present as would lift them , once for all , out of the quagmire of adversity in which they had floundered so long . At six o'clock , on that autumn evening , it being already dusk , `` Cobbler '' Horn opened his front door , and stood for a moment on the step . Miss Jemima and the young secretary were both out of the way . If Miss Jemima had known where her brother was going and for what purpose , she would have held up her hands in horror and dismay , and might even , had she been present , have tried to detain him in the house by main force . `` Cobbler '' Horn lingered a moment on the door-step , with the instinctive hesitation of one who is about to perform an act of unaccustomed magnitude ; but his soul revelled in the thought of what he was going to do .