two o'clock in the
afternoon
I went , of course , only as a day scholar ; and it goes without saying that I was never allowed to go and come alone lest I should get into bad company . The four years that I spent at the university , as a day scholar , were as strange and as full of odd experiences as any of my life . But , notwithstanding , from that fatal day my history becomes much less interesting as a narrative . I was taken to school for the first time , at two o'clock in the afternoon , upon one of those glorious October days , so sunny and peaceful , that is like a reluctant and sad leave-taking of the summer-time . Ah ! how beautiful it had been in the mountains , in the leafless forests and among the autumn-tinted vines ! With a crowd of children , all talking at the same time , I entered the torture chamber .