five o'clock
The anxious statesman heard in silence ; but in private Lockhard received orders to watch the courier on his return , to waylay him in the village , to ply him with liquor , if possible , and to use all means , fair or foul , to learn the contents of the letter of which he was the bearer . But as this plot had been foreseen , the messenger returned by a different and distant road , and thus escaped the snare that was laid for him . After he had been in vain expected for some time , Mr. Dingwall had orders to made especial inquiry among his clients of Wolf 's Hope , whether such a domestic belonging to the Marquis of A -- had actually arrived at the neighbouring castle . This was easily ascertained ; for Caleb had been in the village one morning by five o'clock , to borrow `` twa chappins of ale and a kipper '' for the messenger 's refreshment , and the poor fellow had been ill for twenty-four hours at Luckie Sma ` trash 's , in consequence of dining upon `` saut saumon and sour drink . '' So that the existence of a correspondence betwixt the Marquis and his distressed kinsman , which Sir William Ashton had sometimes treated as a bugbear , was proved beyond the possibility of further doubt . The alarm of the Lord Keeper became very serious ; since the Claim of Right , the power of appealing from the decisions of the civil court to the Estates of Parliament , which had formerly been held incompetent , had in many instances been claimed , and in some allowed , and he had no small reason to apprehend the issue , if the English House of Lords should be disposed to act upon an appeal from the Master of Ravenswood `` for remeid in law . '' It would resolve into an equitable claim , and be decided , perhaps , upon the broad principles of justice , which were not quite so favourable to the Lord Keeper as those of strict law .