six in the morning
She was a dull , heavy , yet crafty-looking woman , who had taken a first-class diploma as a teacher ; yet , as far as I could judge , knew very much less than most English governesses who are uncertificated . So far from there being any professors attending the school , I could not discover that there were any in the town . It was a cotton-manufacturing town , with a population of six thousand , most of them hand-loom weavers . There were three or four small factories , built on the banks of the river , where the hands were at work from six in the morning till ten at night , Sundays included . There was not much intellectual life here ; a professor would have little chance of making a living . At first Minima , and I took long walks together into the country surrounding Noireau , a beautiful country , even in November . Once out of the vapor lying in the valley , at the bottom of which the town was built , the atmosphere showed itself as exquisitely clear , with no smoke in it , except the fine blue smoke of wood-fire .