nine o'clock
The landlady was inexorable , so we had to submit . Jack took me a long stroll through the London streets that evening , entertaining me with a description of his life as a grocer 's shop-boy , now happily at an end . I forbore to ask him any questions on the mysterious subject of his home , and he of course never referred to it . Our walk ended again at Beadle Square , where we parted for the night ; he to return to some poor lodging in a distant part of the town , I to take part in the nine o'clock supper at Mrs Nash 's . I was rather nervous as I approached the parlour where were congregated my fellow-lodgers , and heard the sound of their noisy voices and laughter . I half repented that I had committed myself to sup on the premises ; it would have been so much less embarrassing to slip in just at ten o'clock and go straight to bed . However , I was in for it now .