nine in the morning
II . _ In which the reader will meet with an old acquaintance . _ Booth 's affairs were put on a better aspect than they had ever worn before , and he was willing to make use of the opportunity of one day in seven to taste the fresh air . At nine in the morning he went to pay a visit to his old friend Colonel James , resolving , if possible , to have a full explanation of that behaviour which appeared to him so mysterious : but the colonel was as inaccessible as the best defended fortress ; and it was as impossible for Booth to pass beyond his entry as the Spaniards found it to take Gibraltar . He received the usual answers ; first , that the colonel was not stirring , and an hour after that he was gone out . All that he got by asking further questions was only to receive still ruder answers , by which , if he had been very sagacious , he might have been satisfied how little worth his while it was to desire to go in ; for the porter at a great man 's door is a kind of thermometer , by which you may discover the warmth or coldness of his master 's friendship . Nay , in the highest stations of all , as the great man himself hath his different kinds of salutation , from an hearty embrace with a kiss , and my dear lord or dear Sir Charles , down to , well Mr. -- , what would you have me do ?