A few minutes after ten o'clock
He ran the gantlet at Messrs. Tag-rag and Co. 's all Tuesday as he had done on the day preceding . One should have supposed that when his companions beheld him persecuted by their common tyrant , whom they all equally hated , they would have made common cause with their suffering companion , or at all events given no countenance to his persecution ; yet it was far otherwise . Without stopping to analyze the feeling which produced it , -LRB- and which the moderately reflective reader may easily analyze for himself if so disposed , -RRB- I am grieved to have to say , that when all the young men saw that Tag-rag would be gratified by their _ cutting _ poor Titmouse , who , with all his little vanities , fooleries , and even selfishness , had never personally offended or injured any of them -- they did cut him ; and , when Tag-rag observed it , his miserable mind was unspeakably gratified with what they had done : and he spoke to all of them with unusual blandness ; to the sinner , Titmouse , with augmented bitterness and sternness . A few minutes after ten o'clock that night , a gentle ringing at the bell of Messrs. Quirk , Gammon , and Snap 's office , announced the arrival of poor Titmouse . The door was quickly opened by a very fashionably dressed clerk , who seemed in the act of quitting for the night . `` Ah -- Mr. Titmouse , I presume ? '' he inquired , with a kind of deference in his manner to which Titmouse had never been accustomed .