about nine at
night
I can explain his policy from first to last . Now for instance in the Peninsula , on which you were so very amusing , if you will come to a friend 's house who has a map of Spain , I can make the whole course of the war quite clear to you , I venture to say , in half an hour . ' This was intolerable . Of the two extremes , I found I preferred the British tory ; and , making an appointment for the morrow , I pleaded sudden headache , escaped to the inn , packed my knapsack , and fled , about nine at night , from this accursed neighbourhood . It was cold , starry , and clear , and the road dry , with a touch of frost . For all that , I had not the smallest intention to make a long stage of it ; and about ten o'clock , spying on the right-hand side of the way the lighted windows of an alehouse , I determined to bait there for the night . It was against my principle , which was to frequent only the dearest inns ; and the misadventure that befell me was sufficient to make me more particular in the future .