a quarter to one
Curious that , eh ? He had n't the pluck to face the bullets when his name was at stake , yet he could blow his own brains out afterwards . '' Lieutenant Sutch chanced to look at the clock as the story came to an end . It was now a quarter to one . Harry Feversham had still a quarter of an hour 's furlough , and that quarter of an hour was occupied by a retired surgeon-general with a great wagging beard , who sat nearly opposite to the boy . `` I can tell you an incident still more curious , '' he said . `` The man in this case had never been under fire before , but he was of my own profession .