about
nine o'clock P.M.
On the other , I doubt if it be right to keep total silence and withhold from devout and initiated minds any glimpse of truth , or possible truth , vouchsafed to me . As the Greek said , `` Plenty are the thyrsus-bearers , but few the illuminate '' ; and among these few I may surely count my old friend . It was in January 1807 -- the year of the abominable business of Tilsit -- that my churchwarden , the late Mr. Ephraim Pollard , and I , in cleaning the south wall of Lanihale Church for a fresh coat of whitewash , discovered the frescoes and charcoal drawings , as well as the brass plaque of which I sent you a tracing ; and I think not above a fortnight later that , on your suggestion , I set to work to decipher and copy out the old churchwardens ' accounts . On the Monday after Easter , at about nine o'clock P.M. , I was seated in the Vicarage parlour , busily transcribing , with a couple of candles before me , when my housekeeper Frances came in with a visiting-card , and the news that a stranger desired to speak with me . I took the card and read `` Mr. Joseph Laquedem . '' `` Show the gentleman in , '' said I . Now the fact is , I had just then a few guineas in my chest , and you know what a price gold fetched in 1807 .