one o'clock
His reason asserted itself the instant the fugitive was out of sight . He silently paid for the beer , went back to the Fairy Queen to inform the captain that his man Gibson was a thief -- to which the captain replied that it was very probable , but that it was no business of his -- and then wandered sadly back to tell the Wright family how Gibson , _ alias _ Stumps , _ alias _ Shunks , had been found and lost . That much-abused and oft-neglected meal called tea had always been a scene of great festivity and good-fellowship in the Wright family . Circumstances , uncontrollable of course , had from the beginning necessitated a dinner at one o'clock , so that they assembled round the family board at six each evening , in a hungry and happy frame of body and mind , -LRB- which late diners would envy if they understood it -RRB- , with the prospect of an evening -- not bed -- before them . In the earlier years of the family , the meal had been , so to speak , a riotous one , for both Robin and Madge had uncontrollable spirits , with tendencies to drop spoons on the floor , and overturn jugs of milk on the table . Later on , the meal became a jolly one , and , still later , a chatty one -- especially after uncle Rik and cousin Sam began to be frequent guests . But never in all the experience of the family had the favourite meal been so jolly , so prolific of spoony and porcelain accidents , so chatty , and so generally riotous , as it was on a certain evening in June of the year 1870 , shortly after the return home of Robin and his companions .