About ten o'clock
`` Moreover , souls will not be saved by brute force , '' said Clement . While they were talking Jerome came up , and Clement persuaded him to lie at the convent that night , But when in the morning Clement told him he had had a long talk with the abbess , and that she was very sad , and he had promised her to try and win back her nun , Jerome objected , and said , `` It was not their business , and was a waste of time , '' Clement , however , was no longer a mere pupil . He stood firm , and at last they agreed that Jerome should go forward , and secure their passage in the next ship for England , and Clement be allowed time to make his well-meant but idle experiment . About ten o'clock that day , a figure in a horseman 's cloak , and great boots to match , and a large flapping felt hat , stood like a statue near the auberge , where was the apostate nun , Mary . The friar thus disguised was at that moment truly wretched . These ardent natures undertake wonders ; but are dashed when they come hand to hand with the sickening difficulties . But then , as their hearts are steel , though their nerves are anything but iron , they turn not back , but panting and dispirited , struggle on to the last .