eight o’clock
`` Ninety-five firkins fourteen gallons three quarts . You see , it 's quite simple , '' said Mr. Cleghorn , the arithmetic master . `` Oh , thank you ; I _ see _ , '' said Margaret , with the kind readiness of woman , who would profess to `` see '' the Secret of Hegel , or the inmost heart of the Binomial Theorem , or the nature of the duties of cover-point , or the latest hypothesis about the frieze of the Parthenon , rather than be troubled with prolonged explanations , which the expositor , after all , might find it inconvenient to give . Arithmetic and algebra were not this scholar 's _ forte _ ; and no young lady in Miss Marlett 's establishment was so hungry , or so glad when eight o'clock struck and the bell rang for breakfast , as Margaret Shields . Breakfast at Miss Marlett 's was not a convivial meal . There was a long narrow table , with cross-tables at each end , these high seats , or _ dais _ , being occupied by Miss Marlett and the governesses . At intervals down the table were stacked huge piles of bread and butter -- of extremely thick bread and surprisingly thin butter -- each slice being divided into four portions .