twelve
o'clock
The Dean ruffled his plumage , and said with asperity -- `` Your conduct last night , sir . '' `` I was wandering in the fields , sir . '' `` Wandering in the fields ! '' In the Dean 's formal and regular mind such a proceeding was wholly unintelligible ; fancy a sensible member of a college wandering in the fields on a wet stormy night past twelve o'clock ! `` Really , Mr Kennedy , you must excuse us , but we can hardy accept so fantastic an explanation ; we can hardly believe that you had no ulterior designs . '' Kennedy was bothered and fretful ; he was not thinking of Deans or Seniors just then ; his thoughts were reverting to his father 's implacable anger , and to Julian 's forbidding him to hope for the love of Violet Home . Weary of the talking , and careless of explaining anything to them , and with a short return of his old contempt , he wished to cut short the discussion , and merely said -- `` I ca n't help what you accept or what you believe . ''