seven o'clock
`` If '' -- said he , `` you can imagine the soul of a young Sophocles , battling with that of a -- of a junior journalist in the body of a dissipated little Cockney -- '' `` Ca n't , '' said Stables . `` Have n't got enough imagination . '' `` The child of ` Ellas and of Ollywell Street ' -- innocent of -- er -- the rough breathing , '' suggested Maddox . As it was now seven o'clock , and the Junior Journalists were dropping off one by one to the dining-room below , the young men of _ The Planet _ began to stretch their legs , and raise their voices , and behave like young men who believe their privacy to be inviolable and complete . They soon had the place to themselves , except for one person whose entrance had been covered by the outgoing stream ; and he had delicately turned his back on them , and taken a seat in the farthest window , where his unobtrusive presence could be no possible hindrance to conversation . `` I 've seen him after supper , '' said Maddox . He was obliged to speak rather loudly , because of the noise that came up from the overcrowded dining-room .