nearly five o'clock
actually flout him with such an answer as this . `` Go and stand over there in that corner , '' he thundered , `` and you sha n't move until you can answer my questions , if you stand there for the rest of the day . If you children have nothing else , I am determined that you shall have good manners . '' * * * * * * It was nearly five o'clock , and Ger still stood in the same corner of the study watching the last streak of red fade from the chill January sky . There was no sound in the room save only the soft `` plop '' of a cinder as it fell on to the tiled hearth . The fire had burned low , and he was very cold . Never in all his life had he gone without his dinner before , and although he was no longer hungry , everything seemed , as he said afterwards , `` funny and misty . ''