a quarter to seven
One morning , they found him in Hiram 's great arm chair , huddled in its depths , his head upon his knees , his hairy hands stiff against his cheeks . They buried him in the clump of lilac bushes of which Hiram had been especially fond . Stronger than any other one influence for good upon Adelaide and Arthur at that critical time , was this object lesson Simeon gave -- Simeon with his single-hearted sorrow and single-minded love . Arthur , about to issue forth at a quarter to seven on Monday morning to begin work as a cooper 's apprentice , felt as if he would find all Saint X lined up to watch him make the journey in working clothes . He had a bold front as he descended the lawn toward the gates ; but at the risk of opening him to those with no sympathy for weaknesses other than their own , and for their own only in themselves , it must be set down that he seemed to himself to be shaking and skulking . He set his teeth together , gave himself a final savage cut with the lash of `` What a damned coward I am ! '' and closed the gate behind him and was in the street -- a workingman .