Eight o'clock
But where was Mr. Ives ? Where was that Gamaliel who had been such a warm partisan in the postoffice that morning ? `` Saw him outside the hall -- wah n't but ten minutes ago , '' said Deacon Hartington , sadly ; `` thought he was a-comin ' in . '' Eight o'clock came , and no Mr. Ives ; ten minutes past -- fifteen minutes past . If the truth must be told , Mr. Ives had been on the very threshold of the hall , and one glance at the poor sprinkling of people there had decided him . Mr. Ives had a natural aversion to being laughed at , and as he walked back on the darker side of the street he wished heartily that he had stuck to his original Gamaliel-advocacy of no interference , of allowing the Supreme Judge to decide . Such opinions were inevitably just , Mr. Ives was well aware , though not always handed down immediately .