a quarter past
eight
`` The coachman saw a boy coming out of the yard , at a quarter past eight last night . It was too dark for him to say for certain , but he thought it was me . A quarter of an hour later the dog died of poison , and this morning they picked up a cover of one of those rat powders you sell . I could n't say where I was at a quarter past eight , when the coachman saw the boy ; for as you know , mother , I told you I had walked out a bit , after I came out from the school , to get the stiffness out of my leg . So , altogether , the squire has made up his mind 't is me , and so he has sent me away . '' Reuben had summed up the points against himself in a broken voice , and now broke into a passion of tears . His mother tried in vain to pacify him ; but indeed her own indignation , at her boy being charged with such a thing , was so great that she could do little to console him .