Seven o'clock
` They have switched their old militancy , ' I wrote , ` on to another track , for with them it is a matter of conscience to be always militant . ' I finished up with some very crude remarks on economics culled from the table-talk of the egregious Tombs . It was the kind of letter which I hoped would establish my character in his mind as an industrious innocent . Seven o'clock found me in Newmilns Street , where I was seized upon by Wilkie . He had put on a clean collar for the occasion and had partially washed his thin face . The poor fellow had a cough that shook him like the walls of a power-house when the dynamos are going . He was very apologetic about Amos .