But in the morning it is whispered among the household that he was heard to go upstairs in the dead night, and that he stayed there--in the room--until the sun was shining.
At the offices in the City, the ground-glass windows are made more dim by shutters; and while the lighted lamps upon the desks are half extinguished by the day that wanders in, the day is half extinguished by the lamps, and an unusual gloom prevails.

There is not much business done.

The clerks are indisposed to work; and they make assignations to eat chops in the afternoon, and go up the river.

Perch, the messenger, stays long upon his errands; and finds himself in bars of public-houses, invited thither by friends, and holding forth on the uncertainty of human affairs.

He goes home to Ball's Pond earlier in the evening than usual, and treats Mrs Perch to a veal cutlet and Scotch ale.