But he was back again by ten o'clock, almost quite sober.
He always made his own breakfast.

Being a man who rose early and had plenty of time he did not, as some miners do, drag his wife out of bed at six o'clock.

At five, sometimes earlier, he woke, got straight out of bed, and went downstairs.

When she could not sleep, his wife lay waiting for this time, as for a period of peace.

The only real rest seemed to be when he was out of the house.
He went downstairs in his shirt and then struggled into his pit-trousers, which were left on the hearth to warm all night.