two in the afternoon
One day in January , Thomas , pleading indisposition , left work at twelve . He had a cold and a headache , and felt more miserable than at any time since his school-days . As he rode home in an omnibus Mr. and Mrs. Warbeck were entertaining friends at the wedding-breakfast , and Thomas knew it . For an hour or two in the afternoon he sat patiently under his landlady 's talk , but a fit of nervous exasperation at length drove him forth , and he did not return till supper-time . Just as he sat down to a basin of gruel , Mrs. Batty admitted a boy who brought him a message . ` Mother sent me round , Mr. Bird , ' said the messenger , ` and she wants to know if you could just come and see her ; it 's something about father . He had some work to do , but he has n't come home to do it . '