eight o'clock in the evening
I agreed to take the back-parlour for the night , and while a Hebrew damsel was arranging a little dusky sofa-bedstead -LRB- woe betide him who has to sleep on it ! -RRB- I was invited into the front parlour , where Mr. Aminadab , bidding me take heart , told me I should have a dinner for nothing with a party who had just arrived . I did not want for dinner , but I was glad not to be alone -- not alone , even till Gus came ; for whom I despatched a messenger to his lodgings hard by . I found there , in the front parlour , at eight o'clock in the evening , four gentlemen , just about to sit down to dinner . Surprising ! there was Mr. B. , a gentleman of fashion , who had only within half-an-hour arrived in a post-chaise with his companion , Mr. Lock , an officer of Horsham gaol . Mr. B. was arrested in this wise : -- He was a careless good-humoured gentleman , and had indorsed bills to a large amount for a friend ; who , a man of high family and unquestionable honour , had pledged the latter , along with a number of the most solemn oaths , for the payment of the bills in question .