eight o’clock
` You should say better luck , I think , ' returned his mother , ` because Miss Nelly wo n't have been left alone . ' ` Ah ! ' said Kit , ` I forgot that . I said worse luck , because I 've been watching ever since eight o'clock , and seen nothing of her . ' ` I wonder what she 'd say , ' cried his mother , stopping in her work and looking round , ` if she knew that every night , when she -- poor thing -- is sitting alone at that window , you are watching in the open street for fear any harm should come to her , and that you never leave the place or come home to your bed though you 're ever so tired , till such time as you think she 's safe in hers . ' ` Never mind what she 'd say , ' replied Kit , with something like a blush on his uncouth face ; ` she 'll never know nothing , and consequently , she 'll never say nothing . ' Mrs Nubbles ironed away in silence for a minute or two , and coming to the fireplace for another iron , glanced stealthily at Kit while she rubbed it on a board and dusted it with a duster , but said nothing until she had returned to her table again : when , holding the iron at an alarmingly short distance from her cheek , to test its temperature , and looking round with a smile , she observed : ` I know what some people would say , Kit -- ' ` Nonsense , ' interposed Kit with a perfect apprehension of what was to follow .