three o'clock
On the wall above the wainscot the faded hangings wavered in the draught , crusted thickly with strange embroidered flowers . And dancing there together in the semi-gloom , the children seemed quaint little figures stepped down from the tapestry at the touch of a magic wand . And so the time went slipping by , very pleasantly upon the whole , and Nick 's young heart grew stout again within his breast ; for he was strong and well , and in those days the very air was full of hope , and no man knew what might betide with the rising of to-morrow 's sun . Every day , from two till three o'clock , he was at Master Gyles 's private singing-room at the old cathedral school , learning to read music at first sight , and to sing offhand the second , third , and fourth parts of queer intermingled fugues or wonderfully constructed canons . At first his head felt stuffed like a feasted glutton with all the learning that the old precentor poured into it ; but by and by he found it plain enough , and no very difficult thing to follow up the prickings in the paper with his voice , and to sing parts written at fifths and fourths and thirds with other voices as easily as to carry a song alone . But still he sang best his own unpointed songs , the call and challenge of the throstle and the merle , the morning glory of the lark , songs that were impossible to write . And those were the songs that the precentor was at the greatest pains to have him sing in perfect tones , making him open his mouth like a little round and let the music float out of itself .