about the hour of
ten o'clock
Such was this well known squire of the old school , whose portrait , taken from life , will be recognized by every one who ever knew him , should any such happen to peruse these pages . At the period of which we write Squire Deaker was near eighty , and although feeble and broken down , he still exhibited the remains of a large , coarse , strong-boned animal , not without a vigorous twinkle of low cunning in his eye , and a duplicity of character and principle about his angular and ill-shaped eye-brows which could not be mistaken . He was confined to his bed , and for the first time during many years , was unable to attend the Castle Cumber quarter sessions . It was the second or third day after their close that about the hour of ten o'clock , a.m. , he awoke from a heavy and unhealthy doze , which could scarcely be termed sleep , but rather a kind of middle state between that and waking . At length he raised his head , gasped , and on finding no one in the room , he let fly a volley of execrations , and rang the bell . `` Is there any one there ? Any one within hearing ?