seven o'clock in the morning
Railsford himself used to be fond of recounting his first experience of this phenomenon . He was going down early one morning to the fields , when on the shady side of the quadrangle he encountered a boy , whom he recognised after a little scrutiny to be Sir Digby Oakshott , Baronet . The reason why he did not immediately grasp the identity of so familiar a personage was because Sir Digby 's body was thrown back , his arms were behind his back , his legs were spread out , and his head was thrown into the air , with an expression which the Master of the Shell had never seen there before , and never saw again . There was but one conclusion to come to : the baronet had gone mad , or he would never be standing thus in the public quadrangle at seven o'clock in the morning . The supposition was immediately confirmed by beholding the patient 's face break slowly into a horrible leer , and his mouth assume a diagonal slant , as he brought one hand in front , the index finger close to his nose , and addressed a lamp-post as follows : -- `` When Abednego Jinks says a thing , Tommy , my boy , you may take your Alfred David there 's more in it than there is in your head . '' Railsford , in alarm , was about to hasten for professional assistance for what he considered a very bad case , when Dig , catching sight of him , relieved him inexpressibly by dropping at once into his ordinary sane manner , and saying , with a blush of confusion , -- `` Oh , Mr Railsford , I did n't know you were there . I was mugging up my part for the Comedians , you know .