one o'clock
As a proof of the fact , the Jew drew forth two keys from his pocket ; and explained , that when he first went downstairs , he had locked them in , to prevent any intrusion on the conference . This accumulated testimony effectually staggered Mr. Monks . His protestations had gradually become less and less vehement as they proceeded in their search without making any discovery ; and , now , he gave vent to several very grim laughs , and confessed it could only have been his excited imagination . He declined any renewal of the conversation , however , for that night : suddenly remembering that it was past one o'clock . And so the amiable couple parted . As it would be , by no means , seemly in a humble author to keep so mighty a personage as a beadle waiting , with his back to the fire , and the skirts of his coat gathered up under his arms , until such time as it might suit his pleasure to relieve him ; and as it would still less become his station , or his gallantry to involve in the same neglect a lady on whom that beadle had looked with an eye of tenderness and affection , and in whose ear he had whispered sweet words , which , coming from such a quarter , might well thrill the bosom of maid or matron of whatsoever degree ; the historian whose pen traces these words -- trusting that he knows his place , and that he entertains a becoming reverence for those upon earth to whom high and important authority is delegated -- hastens to pay them that respect which their position demands , and to treat them with all that duteous ceremony which their exalted rank , and -LRB- by consequence -RRB- great virtues , imperatively claim at his hands . Towards this end , indeed , he had purposed to introduce , in this place , a dissertation touching the divine right of beadles , and elucidative of the position , that a beadle can do no wrong : which could not fail to have been both pleasurable and profitable to the right-minded reader but which he is unfortunately compelled , by want of time and space , to postpone to some more convenient and fitting opportunity ; on the arrival of which , he will be prepared to show , that a beadle properly constituted : that is to say , a parochial beadle , attached to a parochial workhouse , and attending in his official capacity the parochial church : is , in right and virtue of his office , possessed of all the excellences and best qualities of humanity ; and that to none of those excellences , can mere companies ' beadles , or court-of-law beadles , or even chapel-of-ease beadles -LRB- save the last , and they in a very lowly and inferior degree -RRB- , lay the remotest sustainable claim .