a quarter
past nine
All which again made our hero unhappy . Sunday in Grosvenor Place Mr. Kennedy , though he was a most scrupulously attentive member of Parliament , was a man very punctual to hours and rules in his own house , -- and liked that his wife should be as punctual as himself . Lady Laura , who in marrying him had firmly resolved that she would do her duty to him in all ways , even though the ways might sometimes be painful , -- and had been perhaps more punctilious in this respect than she might have been had she loved him heartily , -- was not perhaps quite so fond of accurate regularity as her husband ; and thus , by this time , certain habits of his had become rather bonds than habits to her . He always had prayers at nine , and breakfasted at a quarter past nine , let the hours on the night before have been as late as they might before the time for rest had come . After breakfast he would open his letters in his study , but he liked her to be with him , and desired to discuss with her every application he got from a constituent . He had his private secretary in a room apart , but he thought that everything should be filtered to his private secretary through his wife . He was very anxious that she herself should superintend the accounts of their own private expenditure , and had taken some trouble to teach her an excellent mode of book-keeping .