eleven o’clock
I think mother 's going away for two days to fetch some boys ; and when she does , I 'll ask you and John up to tea , and have him to meet you . ' This was a charming idea , and having fully discussed it , the friends parted . It so fell out , that Mrs. Squeers 's journey , to some distance , to fetch three new boys , and dun the relations of two old ones for the balance of a small account , was fixed that very afternoon , for the next day but one ; and on the next day but one , Mrs. Squeers got up outside the coach , as it stopped to change at Greta Bridge , taking with her a small bundle containing something in a bottle , and some sandwiches , and carrying besides a large white top-coat to wear in the night-time ; with which baggage she went her way . Whenever such opportunities as these occurred , it was Squeers 's custom to drive over to the market town , every evening , on pretence of urgent business , and stop till ten or eleven o'clock at a tavern he much affected . As the party was not in his way , therefore , but rather afforded a means of compromise with Miss Squeers , he readily yielded his full assent thereunto , and willingly communicated to Nicholas that he was expected to take his tea in the parlour that evening , at five o'clock . To be sure Miss Squeers was in a desperate flutter as the time approached , and to be sure she was dressed out to the best advantage : with her hair -- it had more than a tinge of red , and she wore it in a crop -- curled in five distinct rows , up to the very top of her head , and arranged dexterously over the doubtful eye ; to say nothing of the blue sash which floated down her back , or the worked apron or the long gloves , or the green gauze scarf worn over one shoulder and under the other ; or any of the numerous devices which were to be as so many arrows to the heart of Nicholas . She had scarcely completed these arrangements to her entire satisfaction , when the friend arrived with a whity-brown parcel -- flat and three-cornered -- containing sundry small adornments which were to be put on upstairs , and which the friend put on , talking incessantly .