twenty-five minutes to six
Precisely as the church clock struck five Mr. Lewisham , with a punctuality that was indeed almost too prompt for a really earnest student , shut his Horace , took up his Shakespeare , and descended the narrow , curved , uncarpeted staircase that led from his garret to the living room in which he had his tea with his landlady , Mrs. Munday . That good lady was alone , and after a few civilities Mr. Lewisham opened his Shakespeare and read from a mark onward -- that mark , by-the-bye , was in the middle of a scene -- while he consumed mechanically a number of slices of bread and whort jam . Mrs. Munday watched him over her spectacles and thought how bad so much reading must be for the eyes , until the tinkling of her shop-bell called her away to a customer . At twenty-five minutes to six he put the book back in the window-sill , dashed a few crumbs from his jacket , assumed a mortar-board cap that was lying on the tea-caddy , and went forth to his evening `` preparation duty . '' The West Street was empty and shining golden with the sunset . Its beauty seized upon him , and he forgot to repeat the passage from Henry VIII . that should have occupied him down the street .