eight
o'clock
`` You 'd like to have the key , I dare say ? '' `` Thank you , Thomas -- yes , I should , very much . '' And the old man fumbled among his bunch , and then got up , as though he would go with him ; but after a few steps stopped short , and said , `` Perhaps you 'd like to go by yourself , sir ? '' Tom nodded , and the bunch of keys were handed to him , with an injunction to be sure and lock the door after him , and bring them back before eight o'clock . He walked quickly through the quadrangle and out into the close . The longing which had been upon him and driven him thus far , like the gad-fly in the Greek legends , giving him no rest in mind or body , seemed all of a sudden not to be satisfied , but to shrivel up and pall . `` Why should I go on ?