four o’clock precisely
I must consult my womankind . '' Accordingly , such consultation having been previously held , a special messenger , being no other than Caxon himself , was ordered to prepare for a walk to Knockwinnock Castle with a letter , `` For the honoured Sir Arthur Wardour , of Knockwinnock , Bart . '' The contents ran thus : `` Dear Sir Arthur , `` On Tuesday the 17th curt . _ stilo novo _ , I hold a coenobitical symposion at Monkbarns , and pray you to assist thereat , at four o'clock precisely . If my fair enemy , Miss Isabel , can and will honour us by accompanying you , my womankind will be but too proud to have the aid of such an auxiliary in the cause of resistance to awful rule and right supremacy . If not , I will send the womankind to the manse for the day . I have a young acquaintance to make known to you , who is touched with some strain of a better spirit than belongs to these giddy-paced times -- reveres his elders , and has a pretty notion of the classics -- and , as such a youth must have a natural contempt for the people about Fairport , I wish to show him some rational as well as worshipful society .