"Do you mean to say you didn't go to the Doctor ?" "Rather not.

I--" "What's the time ?" said Dick.
"A quarter to ten." Without more ado they took the unhappy Coote between them and rushed him frantically back to the school, where they shot him in at the Doctor's door just as that gentleman was about to dismiss his new boys' class.
"How is this, Coote ?" demanded the Head Master, sternly, as the breathless boy entered.

"Were you not told to be here at half-past nine ?" "Yes, sir; I--I made a mistake.

I'm very sorry, sir." The genuine terror in his face procured his reprieve this time.

Dr Winter may have been used to "mistakes" of this kind.