nine o'clock
In vain Reginald expostulated , coaxed , reasoned , even apologised . The boy met it all with a sullen scowl . Reginald offered to pay him for the book , to buy him another , to read aloud to him , to give him an extra hour a day -- it was all no use ; the injury was too deep to wash out so easily ; and finally he had to give it up and trust that time might do what arguments and threats had failed to effect . But in this he was disappointed ; for next morning when nine o'clock arrived , no Love was there , nor as the day wore on did he put in an appearance . When at last evening came , and still no signs of him , Reginald began to discover that the sole result of his well-meant interference had been to drive his only companion from him , and doom himself henceforth to the miseries of solitary confinement . For days he scarcely spoke a word . The silence of that office was unearthly .