one
o'clock
He would be removed by such a change as this from the large uncarpeted room in which he at present sat ; occupying the same desk with another man to whom he had felt himself to be ignominiously bound , as dogs must feel when they are coupled . This room had been the bear-garden of the office . Twelve or fourteen men sat in it . Large pewter pots were brought into it daily at one o'clock , giving it an air that was not aristocratic . The senior of the room , one Mr. Love , who was presumed to have it under his immediate dominion , was a clerk of the ancient stamp , dull , heavy , unambitious , living out on the farther side of Islington , and unknown beyond the limits of his office to any of his younger brethren . He was generally regarded as having given a bad tone to the room . And then the clerks in this room would not unfrequently be blown up , -- with very palpable blowings up , -- by an official swell , a certain chief clerk , named Kissing , much higher in standing though younger in age than the gentleman of whom we have before spoken .