seven minutes to eight
This little incident , as may be supposed , did not tend to compose the fluttered spirits of the unhappy Frederick . To say nothing of the indignity of being deliberately run down and screwed into the bank by a crew of young `` Welchers , '' the loss of time involved in extricating his boat from the muddy obstacle which held her by the nose , put all chance of getting in in time to go round to Chalker 's before chapel out of the question . Indeed , it looked very like a shut-out from chapel too , and that meant no end of a row . By a super-human effort he got his boat clear , and sculled down hard all , reaching the boat-house at seven minutes to eight . He had just presence of mind enough to shout the message for Chalker to the boat - boy , with a promise of twopence if he delivered it at once ; and then with a desperate rush he just succeeded in reaching the chapel and squeezing himself in at the door as the bell ceased ringing . Chapel was not , under the circumstances , a very edifying service to Parson that morning . His frame of mind was not devotional , and his feelings of bottled-up wrath at what was past , and dejected anticipation of what was to come , left between them no room for interest in or meaning for the words in which his schoolfellows were joining .