midnight before
It was nearly nine when he got there . He had wasted over an hour at Bampton in his endeavour to get John Applethwaite 's cart to carry him on , and he had been two hours on his walk from Bampton to Shap , -- two hours amidst his cursing . He ordered supper and brandy-and-water , and , as we know , sent off a Mercury for his clothes . But the Mercuries of Westmoreland do not move on quick wings , and it was past midnight before he got his possessions . During all this time he had , by no means , ceased from cursing , but continued it over his broiled ham and while he swallowed his brandy-and-water . He swore aloud , so that the red-armed servant at the inn could not but hear him , that those thieves at the Hall intended to rob him of his clothes ; -- that they would not send him his property . He could not restrain himself , though he knew that every word he uttered would injure his cause , as regarded the property in Westmoreland , if ever he could make a cause .