one o’clock
Police officers sometimes give to their inquiries a strangely wide range . Have you ever observed a large lake on the approach of a sudden storm ? -- its unnatural stillness , death-like and ominous ; its undercurrent of anger not yet apparent on the surface ; and then the breaking forth of fury when the storm has come ? Not inaptly might the cloisters of Helstonleigh be compared to this , that day , when the college boys were let out of school at one o'clock . A strange rumour had been passed about amongst the desks -- not reaching that at which sat the seniors -- a rumour which shook the equanimity of the school to its centre ; and , when one o'clock struck , the boys , instead of clattering out with all the noise of which their legs and lungs were capable , stole down the stairs quietly , and formed into groups of whisperers in the cloisters . It was the calm that precedes a storm . So unusual a state of affairs was noticed by the senior boy .