About nine o'clock in the evening
No ; it was only a struggle between his despairing wretchedness and a lifelong habit of mind . Not difficult to foresee which would prevail ; the public-house always has its doors open in expectation of such instances . With a gesture which made him yet more like a drunken man he turned from the pavement and entered ... . About nine o'clock in the evening , just when Mrs. Hewett had put the unwilling children to bed , and had given her baby a sleeping-dose -- it had cried incessantly for eighteen hours , -- the door of the room was pushed open . Her husband came in . She stood looking at him -- unable to credit the evidence of her eyes . ` John ! '