nine o'clock
Jeremiah was the host , and had been a married man . Jeremiah returned the look with the same meaning in it . John , though a bachelor , was the elder brother . The great church bell , brought from the Monkshaven monastery centuries ago , high up on the opposite hill-side , began to ring nine o'clock ; it was getting late . Jeremiah began : ` It seems a bad time for starting any one on business , wi ' prices and taxes and bread so dear ; but John and I are getting into years , and we 've no children to follow us : yet we would fain draw out of some of our worldly affairs . We would like to give up the shop , and stick to banking , to which there seemeth a plain path . But first there is the stock and goodwill of the shop to be disposed on . '