four o'clock
Why had he been destined to this slavery ? Why must he set out to his work at an hour of the chilly morning when the West End was still shuttered and asleep and the very footmen still yawned in their beds ? If he had any consolation , it was that the others were often before him in that cunning debauch from the caves which the dawn compelled . The Lady Sarah would be at Covent Garden by four o'clock . The Archbishop , who rarely seemed to sleep at all , went off to the Serpentine for his morning ablutions when the clock struck five . `` Betty , '' the pale-faced infant , disappeared as soon as the sun was up -- and often , when Alban awoke in the cellar , he found himself the only tenant of that grim abode . Sometimes , indeed , and this morning following upon the promise to little Lois Boriskoff was such an occasion , he overslept himself altogether and was shut out from the works for the day .