seven o'clock
If this diary was to be believed -- but was it ? Might it not be a hoax purposely put in his way to delude him ? Yet he could not believe that this laboriously written record could have been compiled for his sole benefit ; and this one entry which he had lit upon by mere chance was only one of hundreds of stupid , absurd entries , most of which meant nothing at all , and which seemed more like the symptoms of a disease than the healthy productions of a sane boy . In this one case , however , there seemed to be some method in the author 's madness , and he had given a clue so important that Riddell , in pondering over it that evening and calculating its true value , was very nearly being late for the doctor 's tea at seven o'clock . However , he came to himself just in time to decorate his person , and hurry across the quadrangle before the clock struck . On his way over he met Parson and Telson , walking arm-in-arm . Although the same spectacle had met his eyes on an average twice every day that term , and was about the commonest `` show '' in Willoughby , the sight of the faithful pair at this particular time when the revelations of Bosher 's diary were tingling in his ears impressed the captain .