twelve o'clock
They were angry at Scottie 's stinginess , and took to taunting him . These casual jeers he heeded no more than the idle wind ; they could not hurt . His savings slowly increased , his only serious expenditure being his weekly rent . When , each morning at twelve o'clock , the great bell rang in the docks , and the men and women came in with their baskets and barrows , his dinner consisted of a couple of penny sausage-rolls -LRB- ` bags of mystery , ' his mates called them -RRB- , and these were really quite fresh and clean and wholesome-looking . In the afternoon or evening he generally went round to the house where the girl , Mary Ann Ellis , was now so far recovered that she could sit propped up in bed for an hour or so ; and he would have a chat with her and her landlady , and a cup of tea , with bread and butter -- for which he privately paid . He found this girl interesting , simple , and intensely grateful , but ignorant to a degree that he had not thought possible in a human being capable of reading . In one respect this was lucky , for she believed any nonsense he told her ; and the quite imaginary associations of ladies and gentlemen for the dispensing of needful charity received her most earnest thanks for those little sums that were sent to her mother , or that enabled her to pay off her doctor 's weekly bill .