nine o'clock
`` Maybe it 'll snow , '' he muttered , casting a glance at the sky that would have done credit to a practised seaman . `` Then wo n't I have fun ! Ugh , but the wind blows ! '' It was Saturday , or Titee would have been in school , the big yellow school on Marigny Street , where he went every day when its bell boomed nine o'clock , went with a run and a joyous whoop , ostensibly to imbibe knowledge , really to make his teacher 's life a burden . Idle , lazy , dirty , troublesome boy , she called him to herself , as day by day wore on , and Titee improved not , but let his whole class pass him on its way to a higher grade . A practical joke he relished infinitely more than a practical problem , and a good game at pin-sticking was far more entertaining than a language lesson . Moreover , he was always hungry , and would eat in school before the half-past ten recess , thereby losing much good playtime for his voracious appetite .