About four o'clock
He might , to be sure , make some arrangements for doing week-day service at the cathedral ; but he had chanted the litany at Barchester so long , and had a conscious feeling that he did it so well , that he was unwilling to give up the duty . Thinking of such things , turning over in his own mind together small desires and grave duties , but never hesitating for a moment as to the necessity of leaving the hospital , Mr Harding walked up and down the abbey , or sat still meditating on the same stone step , hour after hour . One verger went and another came , but they did not disturb him ; every now and then they crept up and looked at him , but they did so with a reverential stare , and , on the whole , Mr Harding found his retreat well chosen . About four o'clock his comfort was disturbed by an enemy in the shape of hunger . It was necessary that he should dine , and it was clear that he could not dine in the abbey : so he left his sanctuary not willingly , and betook himself to the neighbourhood of the Strand to look for food . His eyes had become so accustomed to the gloom of the church , that they were dazed when he got out into the full light of day , and he felt confused and ashamed of himself , as though people were staring at him . He hurried along , still in dread of the archdeacon , till he came to Charing Cross , and then remembered that in one of his passages through the Strand he had seen the words `` Chops and Steaks '' on a placard in a shop window .