nine to five o'clock
`` Thank you , Mr. Harris , '' said the boy again . `` I wo n't forget , but I hope I wo n't need it , '' and then he picked up his belongings and left the office . As he passed Mr. Hammond 's desk , he said , `` Good-morning , sir , '' but the clerk pretended not to hear . All through the next week and for weeks after , Theodore spent his time from nine to five o'clock , cleaning brasses and making contracts for the regular care of them , until he had secured as much work as he could attend to himself . Meantime , Jimmy Hunt had taken entire charge of the stand and was doing well with it . Theo gave him four-fifths of the profits and he was perfectly satisfied , and so was his mother , who found his earnings a welcome addition to the slim family income , and it was so near the end of the school term that she concluded it did not matter if Jimmy did stay out the few remaining weeks . But busy as Theodore was , he still found time to carry out what Nan cooked for the people in the two houses , as well as to drop in on one and another of his many neighbours every evening -- for by this time the night school had closed for the season .