a quarter to one in the
morning
was here for dinner last night , and all things considered , we did n't fare so badly . We had tomato bisque and scalloped potatoes and prairie-chicken -LRB- they need to be well basted -RRB- and hot biscuits and stewed dried peaches with cream . Then we had coffee and the men smoked their pipes . We talked until a quarter to one in the morning , and my poor Dinky-Dunk , who has been working so hard and seeing nobody , really enjoyed that visit and really likes Percival Benson . Percy got talking about Oxford , and you could see that he loved the old town and that he felt more at home on the Isis than on the prairie . He said he once heard Freeman tell a story about Goldwin Smith , who used to be Regius Professor of History at the University . G. S. seemed astonished that F. could n't tell him , at some _ viva voce _ exam , whatever that may mean , the cause of King John 's death .