twelve o'clock
Maybe you might n't be seen , and I 'd try hard to fetch you in something hot when we comes back . '' `` Ye 're real good , and I 'll just mak ' shift to stay in , '' replied Mary Jones . But then the manager came round , and the girls could say no more for the present . At twelve o'clock , be the weather what it might , all had to turn out for half an hour . This , which seemed a hardship , was absolutely necessary for the proper ventilation of the room ; but the delicate girls felt the hardship terribly , and as many of them could not afford to go to a restaurant , there was nothing for them but to wander about the streets . At the hour of release to-day it still snowed fast , but Sue with considerable cleverness , had managed to hide Mary Jones in the warm room , and now ran fast through the blinding and bitter cold to see where she could get something hot and nourishing to bring back to her . Her own dinner , consisting of a hunch of dry bread and dripping , could be eaten in the pauses of her work .