nine o'clock
They now often stole out into the Hall at nights , incited thereto , partly by the hope of finding Diggs there and having a talk with him , partly by the excitement of doing something which was against the rules ; for , sad to say , both of our youngsters , since their loss of character for steadiness in their form , had got into the habit of doing things which were forbidden , as a matter of adventure ; just in the same way , I should fancy , as men fall into smuggling , and for the same sort of reasons , -- thoughtlessness in the first place . It never occurred to them to consider why such and such rules were laid down ; the reason was nothing to them , and they only looked upon rules as a sort of challenge from the rule-makers , which it would be rather bad pluck in them not to accept ; and then again , in the lower parts of the school they had n't enough to do . The work of the form they could manage to get through pretty easily , keeping a good enough place to get their regular yearly remove ; and not having much ambition beyond this , their whole superfluous steam was available for games and scrapes . Now , one rule of the house which it was a daily pleasure of all such boys to break , was that after supper all fags , except the three on duty in the passages , should remain in their own studies until nine o'clock ; and if caught about the passages or Hall , or in one another 's studies , they were liable to punishments or caning . The rule was stricter than its observance ; for most of the sixth spent their evenings in the fifth-form room , where the library was , and the lessons were learnt in common . Every now and then , however , a præpostor would be seized with a fit of district visiting , and would take a tour of the passages and Hall , and the fags ' studies . Then , if the owner were entertaining a friend or two , the first kick at the door and ominous -LSB- 2 -RSB- `` Open here '' had the effect of the shadow of a hawk over a chicken-yard ; every one cut to cover -LSB- 3 -RSB- -- one small boy diving under the sofa , another under the table , while the owner would hastily pull down a book or two and open them , and cry out in a meek voice : `` Hullo , who 's there ? ''