half
after seven in the morning
And for the most part , because of the fraying nature of his present ills , not finding it . But day after day secreting himself in his room -- a little hall-bedroom office in his newest home , where to his wife , he pretended that he had some commercial matters wherewith he was still concerned -- and once inside , the door locked , sitting and brooding on all that had befallen him -- his losses ; his good name . Or , after months of this , and because of the new position secured for him by Wingate -- a bookkeeping job in one of the outlying banks -- slipping away early in the morning , and returning late at night , his mind a gloomy epitome of all that had been or yet might be . To see him bustling off from his new but very much reduced home at half after seven in the morning in order to reach the small bank , which was some distance away and not accessible by street-car line , was one of those pathetic sights which the fortunes of trade so frequently offer . He carried his lunch in a small box because it was inconvenient to return home in the time allotted for this purpose , and because his new salary did not permit the extravagance of a purchased one . It was his one ambition now to eke out a respectable but unseen existence until he should die , which he hoped would not be long . He was a pathetic figure with his thin legs and body , his gray hair , and his snow-white side-whiskers .