about half past nine
They looked so respectable that none of the ` visiting ladies ' ever regarded them as deserving cases . Harlow paid fifteen shillings a year for his plot of ground , and although it meant a lot of hard work it was also a source of pleasure and some profit . He generally made a few shillings out of the flowers , besides having enough potatoes and other vegetables to last them nearly all the year . Sometimes Easton went over to the allotments and lent Harlow a hand with this gardening work , but whether he went there or to the Cricketers , he usually returned home about half past nine , and then went straight to bed , often without speaking a single word to Ruth , who for her part seldom spoke to him except to answer something he said , or to ask some necessary question . At first , Easton used to think that it was all because of the way he had behaved to her in the public house , but when he apologized -- as he did several times -- and begged her to forgive him and forget about it , she always said it was all right ; there was nothing to forgive . Then , after a time , he began to think it was on account of their poverty and the loss of their home , for nearly all their furniture had been sold during the last winter . But whenever he talked of trying to buy some more things to make the place comfortable again , she did not appear to take any interest : the house was neat enough as it was : they could manage very well , she said , indifferently .