three minutes to nine
One plutocrat did the journey in a motor-car , rather to the scandal of the authorities , who , though unable to interfere , looked askance when compelled by the warning toot of the horn to skip from road to pavement . A form-master has the strongest objection to being made to skip like a young ram by a boy to whom he has only the day before given a hundred lines for shuffling his feet in form . It seemed curious to these cyclists that there should be nobody about . Punctuality is the politeness of princes , but it was not a leading characteristic of the school ; and at three minutes to nine , as a general rule , you might see the gravel in front of the buildings freely dotted with sprinters , trying to get in in time to answer their names . It was curious that there should be nobody about to-day . A wave of reform could scarcely have swept through the houses during the night . And yet -- where was everybody ?