twelve o'clock
As he stole past the joiner 's on that sunny morning , when wood was resinous and pungent of odour , he was suddenly conscious of a varnishy smell , and felt a misgiving without knowing why . It was years after , in Edinburgh , ere he knew the reason ; he found that he never went past an upholsterer 's shop , on a hot day in spring , without being conscious of a vague depression , and feeling like a boy slinking into school . In spite of his forebodings , nothing more untoward befell him that morning than a cut over the cowering shoulders for being late , as he crept to the bottom of his class . He reached `` leave , '' the ten minutes ' run at twelve o'clock , without misadventure . Perhaps it was this unwonted good fortune that made him boastful when he crouched near the pump among his cronies , sitting on his hunkers with his back to the wall . Half a dozen boys were about him , and Swipey Broon was in front , making mud pellets in a trickle from the pump . He began talking of the new range .