nine o'clock at night
`` I never ask a man of our college into my rooms , '' answered the other , `` but come in by all means if you like ; '' and so they entered . The room was the worst , both in situation and furniture , which Tom had yet seen . It was on the ground floor , with only one window , which looked out into a back yard , where were the offices of the college . All day , and up to nine o'clock at night , the yard and offices were filled with scouts ; boys cleaning boots and knives ; bed-makers emptying slops and tattling scandal ; scullions peeling potatoes and listening ; and the butchers ' and green-grocers ' men who supply the college , and loitering about to gossip and get a taste of the college ale before going about their business . The room was large , but low and close , and the floor uneven . The furniture did not add to the cheerfulness of the apartment . It consisted of one large table in the middle , covered with an old chequered table-cloth , and an Oxford table near the window , on which lay half-a-dozen books with writing materials .