eleven o'clock
`` But I did write , uncle ; I wrote to you the very first thing , telling you that I was innocent , although appearances were all against me , and saying that I could bear anything if I knew that you believed in me , and I begged you to send me just one line by hand . I waited all day for the answer , and all the evening , and when night came and no letter I felt that you believed me guilty ; I became desperate , and when Fred advised me to bolt , and offered me the money to take me away , I thought I might as well go at once as go after the disgrace of being publicly expelled before the whole school . '' `` But I never got the letter , '' Captain Bayley said , `` never got a line from you , and it was that which shook my faith . '' `` I gave the letter to Fred Barkley to post , half an hour after I came down from school , that is before eleven o'clock , and he told me he posted it at once . '' `` I am afraid , '' Captain Bayley said sternly , `` that Fred Barkley is a vile young scoundrel ; we have had our suspicions of him , Harry and I , and this seems to confirm them . I believe that villain is at the bottom of the whole affair . Have you ever suspected him , Frank ? ''