quarter to eleven
In which case he might find it rather hard to explain what he was doing in the middle of the grounds with a couple of ferrets in his possession when the hands of the clock pointed to twenty minutes to eleven . But the odds were against his being seen . He risked it . When the bell rang for the quarter to eleven interval the ferrets were in their new home , happily discussing a piece of meat -- Renford 's contribution , held over from the morning 's meal , -- and O'Hara , looking as if he had never left the passage for an instant , was making his way through the departing mathematical class to apologise handsomely to Mr Banks -- as was his invariable custom -- for his disgraceful behaviour during the morning 's lesson . School prefects at Wrykyn did weekly essays for the headmaster . Those who had got their scholarships at the ` Varsity , or who were going up in the following year , used to take their essays to him after school and read them to him -- an unpopular and nerve-destroying practice , akin to suicide . Trevor had got his scholarship in the previous November .