six o'clock
`` Nothing for me , sir , thank you , '' anxiously undrawing the strings of the little bag ; `` but if , while you stay here , you could be so kind as to teach my sister cheap -- '' `` My child , I 'll teach her for nothing , '' said the dancing-master , shutting up the bag . He was as good-natured a dancing-master as ever danced to the Insolvent Court , and he kept his word . The sister was so apt a pupil , and the dancing-master had such abundant time to give her , that wonderful progress was made . Indeed , the dancing-master was so proud of it , and so wishful to show it before he left , to a few select friends among the collegians -LRB- the debtors in the prison were called `` collegians '' -RRB- , that at six o'clock on a certain fine morning , an exhibition was held in the yard -- the college-rooms being of too small size for the purpose -- in which so much ground was covered , and the steps were so well executed , that the dancing-master , having to play his fiddle besides , was thoroughly tired out . The success of this beginning , which led to the dancing-master 's continuing his teaching after his release , led the poor child to try again . She watched and waited months for a seamstress . In the fullness of time a milliner came in , sent there like all the rest for a debt which she could not pay ; and to her she went to ask a favor for herself .