half past eight o'clock
I explained to him my plans , and we went out together . We took a carriage and drove rapidly from place to place ; he really seemed pleased to find himself engaged , for once in his life , in a good action . What I did will be revealed as I go on with this story . `` At half past eight o'clock that morning the Jansen family had finished their breakfast and talked over and over again , for the twentieth time , their wonderful turn of fortune , and all its incidents , including repeated counting of their marvelous hoard of money . Then Christina was left in charge of the children , and the father and mother sallied forth to look for a new residence . The neighbors crowded around to congratulate them ; and they explained , -- for , kindly-hearted souls , they did not wish their old companions in poverty to think that they had willingly fled from them , at the first approach of good fortune , -- they explained that they must get a new home nearer to the theater , for Christina 's sake ; and that they proposed that she should have teachers in music and singing and acting ; for she was now the bread-winner of the family , and they hoped that some day she would shine in opera with the great artists . `` Did the neighbors know of any place , suitable for them , which they could rent ?