five o'clock
Here Miss Blomfield paused and wiped her eyes . Not that she was weeping , but over and above her short-sightedness she was troubled with a dimness of vision , which afflicted her more at some times than others . As she was in the habit of endeavouring to counteract the evils of a too constantly laborious and sedentary life , and of an anxious and desponding temperament , by large doses of calomel , her malady increased with painfully rapid strides . On this particular morning she had been busy since five o'clock , and neither she nor the girls -LRB- who rose at six -RRB- had had anything to eat , and they were all somewhat faint for want of a breakfast which was cooling on the table . Meanwhile a `` humming in the head , '' to which _ she _ was subject , rendered Maria mercifully indifferent to the proposal to add an extra half-hour to her distasteful labours ; and Miss Blomfield corrugated her eyebrows , and was conscientiously distressed and really puzzled that Mother Nature should give different gifts to her children , when their mother and teachers according to the flesh were so particular to afford them an equality of `` advantages . '' `` Signor Rigi told me that Maria has not got so good an ear as Jane , '' said Mrs. Ascott . `` However , perhaps it will be well to let Maria practise half an hour , and Jane do half an hour at her arithmetic on Saturday afternoons . ''