nine o'clock
If he could save Lois from the prison , he must do so in London , in the alleys and dens he had so long deserted . Not toward Wonderland , not at the shrines of riches , but as an exile returned to labor with the humblest , must this journey carry him . And he bowed his head to destiny and believed that he stood alone against the world . Alban had returned some two months from Poland , when , upon a drear October evening , the Archbishop of Bloomsbury , my Lady Sarah , the flower girl , and `` Betty , '' the half-witted boy , made their way about half-past nine o'clock to the deserted stage of the Regent Theatre , and there by the courtesy of the watchman , distantly related to Sarah , began their preparations for a homely evening meal . To be quite candid , this was altogether a more respectable company than that which had assembled in the Caves at the springtime of the year . The Lady Sarah wore a spruce black silk dress which had adorned the back of a Duchess more than three years ago ; the Archbishop boasted a coat that would have done no discredit to a Canon of St. Paul 's ; the boy they would call `` Betty '' had a flower at the button-hole of a neat gray suit , and carried himself as though all the world belonged to him . This purple and fine linen , to be sure , were rather lost upon the empty stage of that dismal theatre , nor did the watchman 's lantern and two proud wax-candles which the Lady Sarah carried do much for their reputation ; but , as the Archbishop wisely said , `` We know that they are there , and Sarah has the satisfaction of rustling for us . ''