one
o'clock
After much exertion , my countenance resumed something like its natural complexion , and the white skin faintly dawned once more on my fingers . My collar and shirt-front were beyond cleaning , but at the end of my ablutions I was , at any rate , rather more presentable than I had been . Then I returned refreshed in body and mind to Mr Barnacle , whom I found explaining to Smith his duties in the Import Department . He briefly recapitulated the lecture for my benefit , and then dismissed us both under the charge of Mr Doubleday to our duties , and by the time one o'clock was reached that day , and I was informed I might go out for twenty minutes for my dinner , I was quite settled down as junior clerk in the Export Department of Merrett , Barnacle , and Company . Smith and I had a good deal more than dinner to discuss that morning as we rested for twenty minutes from our office labours . He was very much in earnest about his new work , I could see ; and I felt , as I listened to him , that my own aspirations for success were not nearly as deep-seated as his . He did n't brag , or build absurd castles in the air ; but he made no secret of the fact that now he was once in the business he meant to get on , and expected pretty confidently that he would do so .