Eleven o'clock
He often picked out horses which , if they did not actually win , nearly always stood at a short price in the betting before the race . The `` King 's Head '' was crowded during the dinner-hour . Barbers and their assistants , cabmen , scene-shifters , if there was an afternoon performance at the theatre , servants out of situation and servants escaped from their service for an hour , petty shopkeepers , the many who grow weary of the scant livelihood that work brings them , came there . Eleven o'clock ! In another hour the bar and the room upstairs would be crowded . At present the room was empty , and Journeyman had taken advantage of the quiet time to do a bit of work at his handicap . All the racing of the last three years lay within his mind 's range ; he recalled at will every trifling selling race ; hardly ever was he obliged to refer to the Racing Calendar .