three o’clock
I accordingly assumed a high tone -- laughed at the entire affair -- said it was a `` way we had in the army '' -- that `` we never meant any thing by it , '' & c. & c . In a few minutes I perceived the bait was taking . Mr. Fitzpatrick 's west country blood was up : all thought of the legal resource was abandoned ; and he flung out of the room to find a friend , I having given him the name of `` one of ours '' as mine upon the occasion . Very little time was lost , for before three o'clock that afternoon a meeting was fixed for the following morning at the North Bull ; and I had the satisfaction of hearing that I only escaped the malignant eloquence of Holmes in the King 's Bench , to be `` blazed '' at by the best shot on the western circuit . The thought was no way agreeable , and I indemnified myself for the scrape by a very satisfactory anathema upon the high sheriff and his ball , and his confounded saucepans ; for to the lady 's sympathy for my sufferings I attributed much of my folly . At eight the next morning I found myself standing with Curzon and the doctor upon that bleak portion of her majesty 's dominion they term the North Bull , waiting in a chilly rain , and a raw fog , till it pleased Mark Anthony Fitzpatrick , to come and shoot me -- such being the precise terms of our combat , in the opinion of all parties . The time , however , passed on , and half-past eight , three quarters , and at last nine o'clock , without his appearing ; when , just as Curzon had resolved upon our leaving the ground , a hack jaunting-car was seen driving at full speed along the road near us .