eight o'clock
With daylight and home in view , although at a dim distance , Billy felt that he controlled Fate . It would be some days before Jared could possibly get the letter to Joyce . Long before it came he , Billy , would be on the spot , and nothing could pass unnoticed before his eyes . At eight o'clock of that second day , the boy , worn to the verge of exhaustion , staggered into his mother 's kitchen , and almost frightened Peggy to death by simply announcing : `` I 've cut , and I 'll be eternally busted if I ever go back , so there ! And I 'm starved . '' With the latter information Peggy could deal ; the former was beyond her . She prepared a satisfying repast for her son ; noting , as she hovered over him , the change that had come .