seven o'clock
He was delighted to find no one in the gallery but the old guard , who sat in one corner , a newspaper on his knee , a black patch over one eye and the other closed . Paul possessed himself of the peace and walked confidently up and down , whistling under his breath . After a while he sat down before a blue Rico and lost himself . When he bethought him to look at his watch , it was after seven o'clock , and he rose with a start and ran downstairs , making a face at Augustus , peering out from the cast room , and an evil gesture at the Venus de Milo as he passed her on the stairway . When Paul reached the ushers ' dressing room half a dozen boys were there already , and he began excitedly to tumble into his uniform . It was one of the few that at all approached fitting , and Paul thought it very becoming -- though he knew that the tight , straight coat accentuated his narrow chest , about which he was exceedingly sensitive . He was always considerably excited while he dressed , twanging all over to the tuning of the strings and the preliminary flourishes of the horns in the music room ; but tonight he seemed quite beside himself , and he teased and plagued the boys until , telling him that he was crazy , they put him down on the floor and sat on him .