nine o'clock
`` It was by your brother , '' he said . It was a bright morning a few days later when the Bishop of Rochester suffered on Tower Hill . Chris was there early , and took up his position at the outskirts of the little crowd , facing towards the Tower itself ; and for a couple of hours watched the shadows creep round the piles of masonry , and the light deepen and mellow between him and the great mass of the White Tower a few hundred yards away . There was a large crowd there a good while before nine o'clock , and Chris found himself at the hour no longer on the outskirts but in the centre of the people . He had served the Prior 's mass at six o'clock , and had obtained leave from him the night before to be present at the execution ; but the Prior himself had given no suggestion of coming . Chris had begun to see that his superior was going through a conflict , and that he wished to spare himself any further motives of terror ; he began too to understand that the visit to the bishop had had the effect of strengthening the Prior 's courage , whatever had been the intention on the part of the authorities in allowing him to go . He was still wondering why Ralph had lent himself to the scheme ; but had not dared to press his superior further .