nine o'clock
Well , give the Doctor my compliments -- Mr. Frampton 's -- I live at No. 10 Castle Street , -- he knows me , and ask him to let you come and dine with me next week ; bring funny boy too , if he likes to come ; '' and away he posted , muttering `` Umph ! plaguing myself about a pack of boys , when I might be quiet -- just like me ! '' We did not fail to deliver Mr. Frampton 's message to Dr. Mildman on our return home , who willingly gave us the required permission , saying that he knew but little of the old gentleman personally , though he had resided for several years at Helmstone , but that he was universally respected , in spite of his eccentricities , and was reported to have spent great part of his life abroad . The next time I met my new friend he repeated his invitation to Coleman and myself , and , on the day appointed , gave us an excellent dinner , with quite as much wine as we knew what to do with ; amused and interested us with sundry well-told anecdotes of adventures he had met with during his residence in foreign lands , and dismissed us at nine o'clock with a tip of a guinea each , and an injunction to come and see him again whenever we pleased . For many succeeding weeks nothing of any particular moment occurred to interrupt the even tenor of the new course of life I had entered upon . The liking which Oaklands seemed to have taken to me at first sight soon ripened into a warm friendship , which continued daily to increase on my part , as the many noble and lovable qualities of his disposition appeared , one by one , from behind the veil of indolence which , till one knew him well , effectually concealed them . Coleman , though too volatile to make a real friend of , was a very agreeable companion , and , if it were ever possible to get him to be serious for a minute , showed that beneath the frivolity of his manner lay a basis of clear good sense and right feeling , which only required calling forth to render him a much higher character than he appeared at present .