a quarter before five
`` Well , you 've had a near shave for it this time , however , '' said Lawless ; `` there is more truth than I was aware of in the old proverb , ` If you are born to be hanged , you will never be drowned ' ; though , if it had not been for Frank Fairlegh , you would not have lived to fulfil your destiny . '' In another ten minutes we were all packed in and about the post-chaise ; Coleman , Oaklands , and myself occupying the interior , while Lawless and Mullins rode outside . The promise of an extra half-crown induced the driver to use his best speed . At a quarter before five we were within a stone 's - throw of home ; and if that day at dinner Mrs. Mildman observed the pale looks and jaded appearance of some of the party , I have every reason to believe she has remained up to the present hour in total ignorance as to their cause . ~ 106 ~ ~ `` The voice which I did more esteem Than music on her sweetest key ; Those eyes which unto me did seem More comfortable than the day ; Those now by me , as they have been , Shall never more be heard or seen ; But what I once enjoyed in them , Shall seem hereafter as a dream . `` All earthly comforts vanish thus ; So little hold of them have we ; That we from them , or they from us , May in a moment ravished be .