nine in the morning
since such of my readers as like her best will not be sorry to find that she was a woman . _ Containing various matters . _ A fortnight had now passed since Booth had seen or heard from the colonel , which did not a little surprize him , as they had parted so good friends , and as he had so cordially undertaken his cause concerning the memorial on which all his hopes depended . The uneasiness which this gave him farther encreased on finding that his friend refused to see him ; for he had paid the colonel a visit at nine in the morning , and was told he was not stirring ; and at his return back an hour afterwards the servant said his master was gone out , of which Booth was certain of the falsehood ; for he had , during that whole hour , walked backwards and forwards within sight of the colonel 's door , and must have seen him if he had gone out within that time . The good colonel , however , did not long suffer his friend to continue in the deplorable state of anxiety ; for , the very next morning , Booth received his memorial enclosed in a letter , acquainting him that Mr. James had mentioned his affair to the person he proposed , but that the great man had so many engagements on his hands that it was impossible for him to make any further promises at this time . The cold and distant stile of this letter , and , indeed , the whole behaviour of James , so different from what it had been formerly , had something so mysterious in it , that it greatly puzzled and perplexed poor Booth ; and it was so long before he was able to solve it , that the reader 's curiosity will , perhaps , be obliged to us for not leaving him so long in the dark as to this matter . The true reason , then , of the colonel 's conduct was this : his unbounded generosity , together with the unbounded extravagance and consequently the great necessity of Miss Matthews , had at length overcome the cruelty of that lady , with whom he likewise had luckily no rival .