8 o'clock
Tiffles stood within the door of the hall , to see that nobody came in -LRB- especially small boys -RRB- who had not paid . Stoop remained behind the scenes , and was positively instructed to stay there . Patching wandered up and down the hall , as if he were an early comer , and had paid his quarter , and had no personal knowledge of or interest in the panorama . Performance was to commence at 8 o'clock . Doors were open at 61/2 . Some time previous to that hour , the stairs leading from the street door to the hall were lined with the lads of the village , who amused themselves with making jocular remarks about `` the man in the cage there '' -LRB- meaning Marcus -RRB- , and `` t ` other man at the door , whose shirt was out of jail '' -LRB- meaning Tiffles -RRB- . Marcus smiled grimly at his assailants through the small pigeon hole ; and Tiffles , who felt reckless in the sure view of a failure , laughed heartily at them , returned jokes as bad as they sent , but , in the height of his humor , begged them distinctly to understand that they could not get In without paying .