a quarter to seven
Robin himself had been born in New Zealand , but his mother dying when he was two years old , he had been sent home to be brought up , in the proper Trojan manner , by his aunt and uncle . On these things Robin reflected as he tried to twist his tie into a fitting Trojan shape ; but it refused to behave as a well-educated tie should , and the obvious thing was to get another . Robin looked at his watch . It was really extremely provoking ; the carriage had been timed to arrive at half-past six exactly ; it was now a quarter to seven and no one had appeared . There was probably not time to search for another tie . His father would be certain to arrive at the very moment when one tie was on and the other not yet on , which meant that Robin would be late ; and if there was one thing that a Trojan hated more than another it was being late . With many people unpunctuality was a fault , with a Trojan it was a crime ; it was what was known as an `` odds and ends '' -- one of those things , like untidiness , eating your fish with a steel knife and wearing a white tie with a short dinner-jacket , that marked a man , once and for all , as some one outside the pale , an impossible person .