six o'clock
He held it up in the light of the candle . `` This thing was once a king 's , '' he said . `` As the letter touches the affairs of his Majesty , I think it fitting to seal it with a king 's signet . '' At a little after six o'clock on the evening of Saturday , 12th October , in the year 1678 , the man known commonly as Edward Copshaw came to a halt opposite the narrow entry of the Savoy , just west of the Queen 's palace of Somerset House . He was a personage of many names . In the register of the Benedictine lay-brothers he had been entered as James Singleton . Sundry Paris tradesmen had known him as Captain Edwards , and at the moment were longing to know more of him .