six
o'clock
Good-morning . '' The new _ régime _ in operation at the elevator was more of a hardship to Peterson than to any one else , because it compelled him to be much alone . Not only was he quite cut off from the society of Max and Hilda , but it happened that the two or three under-foremen whom he liked best were on the day shift . The night 's work with none of those pleasant little momentary interruptions that used to occur in the daytime was mere unrelieved drudgery , but the afternoons , when he had given up trying to sleep any longer , were tedious enough to make him long for six o'clock . Naturally , his disposition was easy and generous , but he had never been in the habit of thinking much , and thinking , especially as it led to brooding , was not good for him . From the first , of course , he had been hurt that the office should have thought it necessary to send Bannon to supersede him , but so long as he had plenty to do and was in Bannon 's company every hour of the day , he had not taken time to think about it much . But now he thought of little else , and as time went on he succeeded in twisting nearly everything the new boss had said or done to fit his theory that Bannon was jealous of him and was trying to take from him the credit which rightfully belonged to him .