seven o'clock in the morning
A moment later she whistled through the tube , and instructed the chauffeur as to her change of address . Adieu to the Fanshawes , and all such luxuries of the past . Heigh-ho for hard work , and lodgings at fifteen shillings a week ! It is a somewhat dreary feeling to arrive even at a friend 's house before seven o'clock in the morning , and be received by sleepy-looking people who have obviously been torn unwillingly from their beds in deference to the precepts of hospitality , but it is infinitely worse to arrive at a lodging-house at the same hour , ring several times at the bell before a dingy servant can be induced to appear , and to realise a moment later that in a tireless parlour you perceive your journey 's goal ! Claire Gifford felt a creep of the blood at the sight of that parlour , though if her first introduction had been at night , when the curtains were drawn and the lamps lit , she would have found it cosy enough . There was no sign of her room-mate ; perhaps it was too much to expect her to get up at so early an hour to welcome a stranger , but Claire _ had _ expected it , felt perfectly sure that -- had positions been reversed -- she herself would have taken pains to deck both herself and her room in honour of the occasion , and so felt correspondingly downcast . Presently she found herself following the dingy maid up three separate nights of stairs , and arriving at a tiny box of a bedroom on the top floor .