seven o'clock
Pip said it was because he was a coward , and had not the moral courage to go to sleep with a lie on his soul , for fear he might wake up and see an angel with a fiery sword standing by his bedside . And I must sorrowfully acknowledge this seemed a truer view of the case than believing the boy was really impressed with the heinousness of his offence and anxious to make amends . For the very next day , if occasion sufficiently strong offered , he would fall again , and the very next night would creep up to somebody and whimper , with his knuckles in his eyes , that he had `` t -- t -- told a s -- s -- story , boo -- hoo ! '' By seven o'clock this particular evening he was miserably repentant ; several tears had trickled down , his cheeks and mingled with the ink of the map he was engaged upon for Miss Marsh . He established himself at Meg 's elbow , and kept looking up into her face in a yearning love-and-forgive-me kind of way that she found infinitely embarrassing ; for she had begun to suspect , from his strange conduct , that he had in some way learned the contents of her note , and was trying to discourage her from her enterprise . The more he gazed at her the redder and more uncomfortable she became . `` You can have my new c -- c -- catapult , '' he whispered once , giving her a tearful , imploring look , that she interpreted as an entreaty to stay safely at home .