ten o'clock in the morning
grinned the furious gentleman , and his bulging eyes looked like little round balls of glass . `` Who said you did , miss ? Gr-r-r-up , '' said he , and the poor girl jumped as though she had been prodded with a pin . Mr. Aloysius Murphy 's activities began at ten o'clock in the morning by opening the office letters with an ivory instrument and handing them to his employer ; then , as each letter was read , he entered its receipt and date in a book kept for that purpose . When Mr. MacMahon came in on the morning following the occurrences I have detailed he neglected , for the first time in many years , to respond to his clerk 's respectfully-cordial salutation . To the discreet `` Good-morning , sir , '' he vouchsafed no reply . Mr. Murphy was a trifle indignant and a good deal perturbed , for to an unquiet conscience a word or the lack of it is a goad .