five o'clock
We learnt , however , as the time went on , that a new application was made to the Lord Chancellor on Richard 's behalf as an infant and a ward , and I do n't know what , and that there was a quantity of talking , and that the Lord Chancellor described him in open court as a vexatious and capricious infant , and that the matter was adjourned and readjourned , and referred , and reported on , and petitioned about until Richard began to doubt -LRB- as he told us -RRB- whether , if he entered the army at all , it would not be as a veteran of seventy or eighty years of age . At last an appointment was made for him to see the Lord Chancellor again in his private room , and there the Lord Chancellor very seriously reproved him for trifling with time and not knowing his mind -- `` a pretty good joke , I think , '' said Richard , `` from that quarter ! '' -- and at last it was settled that his application should be granted . His name was entered at the Horse Guards as an applicant for an ensign 's commission ; the purchase-money was deposited at an agent 's ; and Richard , in his usual characteristic way , plunged into a violent course of military study and got up at five o'clock every morning to practise the broadsword exercise . Thus , vacation succeeded term , and term succeeded vacation . We sometimes heard of Jarndyce and Jarndyce as being in the paper or out of the paper , or as being to be mentioned , or as being to be spoken to ; and it came on , and it went off . Richard , who was now in a professor 's house in London , was able to be with us less frequently than before ; my guardian still maintained the same reserve ; and so time passed until the commission was obtained and Richard received directions with it to join a regiment in Ireland .