eight o’clock
` The lad will take to Grey 's influence like a fish to water , ' thought the tutor to himself when he was alone , not without strange reluctance . ` Well , no one can say I have not given him his opportunity to be `` earnest . ''' The sarcasm of the last word was the kind of sarcasm which a man of his type in an earlier generation might have applied to the ` earnestness ' of an Arnoldian Rugby . At eight o'clock that evening Robert found himself crossing the quadrangle with Langham on the way to one of the larger lecture-rooms , which was to be the scene of the address . The room when they got in was already nearly full , all the working fellows of the college were present , and a body of some thirty men besides , most of them already far on in their University career . A minute or two afterward Mr. Grey entered . The door opening on to the quadrangle , where the trees , undeterred by east wind , were just bursting into leaf , was shut ; and the little assembly knelt , while Mr. Grey 's voice with its broad intonation , in which a strong native homeliness lingered under the gentleness of accent , recited the collect ` Lord of all power and might , ' a silent pause following the last words .