six o'clock
`` All right , sir . Red Lion , Jem , '' to the post-boy , and Tom rattles away toward home . At Farringdon , being known to the innkeeper , he gets that worthy to pay for the Oxford horses , and forward him in another chaise at once ; and so the gorgeous young gentleman arrives at the paternal mansion , and Squire Brown looks rather blue at having to pay two pounds ten shillings for the posting expenses from Oxford . But the boy 's intense joy at getting home , and the wonderful health he is in , and the good character he brings , and the brave stories he tells of Rugby , its doings and delights , soon mollify the Squire , and three happier people did n't sit down to dinner that day in England -LRB- it is the boy 's first dinner at six o'clock at home , great promotion already -RRB- , than the Squire and his wife and Tom Brown , at the end of his first half-year at Rugby . `` They are slaves who will not choose Hatred , scoffing , and abuse , Rather than in silence shrink From the truth they needs must think . They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three . '' _ Lowell , `` Stanzas on Freedom . ''