four o'clock
However , now work began again , and ill-feeling was shelved perforce for the time . The sarcastic Green , for instance , found himself required to read the part of `` Nerissa '' to Mason 's `` Portia '' ; and Hughes was set to sketch Africa on the board in company with Vickers . The boys did not know that Mr. West had given a hint to the masters to mix the new and old element well together . That opening day was a weary one to the nine town boys , and all but Jack Brady , the `` weekly '' , scampered off with boisterous delight when school was dismissed at four o'clock . The two chums , Ethelbert Hughes and Lewis Simmons , had been quickly dubbed `` Ethel '' and `` Lucy '' , and they did not at once appreciate their new names . But Jack Brady , when he found himself hailed indiscriminately as `` Apple '' and `` Grinner '' , answered and laughed without a trace of resentment . Perhaps that was why neither title stuck to him , while Hughes and Simmons became Ethel and Lucy to everyone , and even at last to each other .