eleven o'clock
Even before Dick was out of bed she would invent a pretext for stealing into the next room so that she might have a nip on the sly before breakfast . The bottle , and a packet of sweetstuff to take the smell off her mouth , were kept behind a large oleograph representing Swiss scenery . The fear that Dick might pop out upon her at any moment often nearly caused her to spill the liquor over the place ; but existence was impossible without brandy , and she felt she was bound to get rid of the miserable moods of mind to which she woke . Before eleven o'clock Dick was out of the house , and this left Kate four hours of lonely idleness staring her blankly in the face . Sometimes she practised a little music , but it wearied her . She had courage for nothing now , and brandy and water was the only thing that killed the dreariness that ached in heart and head . Many half-pint bottles had succeeded the first , and , ashamed to admit her secret drinking , she now paid the landlady regularly out of her own money .