twelve o'clock
One great principle it was which confused his whole outlook -- the employment of force upon the side of Christianity . Here , on the large scale , was the forcible repression of the Socialists ; on a small scale , the punishment of a heretic . What kind of religion was this that preached gentleness and practised violence ? ... Between eleven and twelve o'clock he could bear it no longer . The house was quiet , and the lights for the most part gone out . He took his hat and thin cloak , throwing this round him so as to hide the purple at his throat , went softly down the corridors and stairs , and let himself out noiselessly into Ambrosden Avenue . He felt he must have air and space : he was beginning almost to hate this silent , well-ordered ecclesiastical house , where wheels ran so smoothly , so inexorably , and so effectively .