One o'clock was the daily training hour in the playing-fields, and Saturday afternoon four weeks hence was the date fixed for the School sports.
It took some days for Railsford's house to accommodate itself to the new order of things imposed upon it.

Indeed, it took twenty-four hours for Grandcourt generally to comprehend the calamity which had befallen the disgraced house.

When one o'clock arrived on the first afternoon, and neither Ainger, Wake, Wignet, Tilbury, Herapath, nor the other familiar frequenters of the playing-field, put in an appearance, speculation began to pass about as to the cause of their absence.

Some of Bickers's boys knew there had been a "howling shine" about something.

But it was not till Smedley, impatient to settle some question relating to the sports, sent his fag to fetch Ainger that it became generally known what had happened.