seven
o'clock
`` You _ are _ afraid , Speug ; you _ dare _ not come . '' And Nestie kept carefully out of Speug 's reach . `` You are a liar , '' cried Speug . `` I 'll come up this very night at seven o'clock , but I 'll no come in unless ye 're at the garden door . '' Speug had fought many pitched battles in his day , and was afraid neither of man nor beast , but his heart sank within him for the first time in his life when he crossed the bridge and climbed the hill to the residence of Mr. Dugald MacKinnon . Nothing but his pledged word , and a reputation for courage which must not be tarnished , since it rested on nothing else , brought him up the lane to Bulldog 's door . He was before his time , and Nestie had not yet come to meet him , and he could allow his imagination to picture what was within the walls , and what might befall his unfortunate self before he went down that lane again .