nine o'clock
His ideas on the subject of honesty were decidedly loose , and none who knew him well would have trusted him with the value of a dollar . Such was the man who approached the Badger homestead . Now it happened that Mrs. Badger and Andrew Jackson had gone to make a call . Both intended to be back by nine o'clock , as neither wished to lose the gratification of being near by when Bill Benton received his flogging . As for Mr. Badger , he was at the village as usual in the evening . Thus it will be seen that as Bill also had left the house , no one was left in charge . Tom Tapley made a careful examination of the house from the outside , and his experienced eyes discovered that it was unprotected .