nine A.M.
There was something secure and permanent in the attachment . Dolly was not sentimental and only distantly affectionate , but she was absorbing . There was no question of an eight-hour day in his case . From nine A.M. until Mr. Travers ostentatiously began to bar the library windows for the night , Mr. Skippy Bedelle was at one end of a wire with Miss Dolly Travers at the other , pushing the button . That practical young lady , realizing that Skippy 's earning capacity was still woefully limited , permitted no allusions to the distant holy bonds of matrimony , but she did allow him to mortgage his future to the extent of the promenade and dances which would decorate his scholastic and collegiate journey , as well as attendance at all athletic contests of any nature whatsoever . On his birthday -LRB- when the sinking fund toward the first dress suit rose to the colossal sum of fifty dollars -RRB- they solemnly exchanged pins , Dolly openly sporting the red and black of Lawrenceville , while Skippy concealed in the secret recesses of his tie a little gold wishbone which would lead him to the higher prizes in life , add three inches to his stature and the additional twenty pounds necessary to qualify for the varsity . His fall from grace was of course the subject of great merriment among his companions , particularly Happy Mather and Joe Crocker in whom memory still rankled .