four
o'clock
In like manner , after his altercations with Strong , the baronet did not come near him , and fled to other haunts , out of the reach of the chevalier 's reproaches ; out of the reach of conscience , if possible , which many of us try to dodge and leave behind us by changes of scenes and other fugitive stratagems . So , though the elder Pendennis , having his own ulterior object , was bent upon seeing Pen 's country neighbor and representative in Parliament , it took the major no inconsiderable trouble and time before he could get him into such a confidential state and conversation , as were necessary for the ends which the major had in view . For since the major had been called in as family friend , and had cognizance of Clavering 's affairs , conjugal and pecuniary , the baronet avoided him : as he always avoided all his lawyers and agents when there was an account to be rendered , or an affair of business to be discussed between them ; and never kept any appointment but when its object was the raising of money . Thus , previous to catching this most shy and timorous bird , the major made more than one futile attempt to hold him ; on one day it was a most innocent-looking invitation to dinner at Greenwich , to meet a few friends ; the baronet accepted , suspected something , and did not come ; leaving the major -LRB- who indeed proposed to represent in himself the body of friends -RRB- to eat his whitebait done : on another occasion the major wrote and asked for ten minutes ' talk , and the baronet instantly acknowledged the note , and made the appointment at four o'clock the next day at Bays 's _ precisely _ -LRB- he carefully underlined the `` precisely '' -RRB- ; but though four o'clock came , as in the course of time and destiny it could not do otherwise , no Clavering made his appearance . Indeed , if he had borrowed twenty pounds of Pendennis , he could not have been more timid , or desirous of avoiding the major ; and the latter found that it was one thing to seek a man , and another to find him . Before the close of that day in which Strong 's patron had given the chevalier the benefit of so many blessings before his face and curses behind his back , Sir Francis Clavering who had pledged his word and his oath to his wife 's advisers to draw or accept no more bills of exchange , and to be content with the allowance which his victimized wife still awarded him , had managed to sign his respectable name to a piece of stamped paper , which the baronet 's friend , Mr. Moss Abrams , had carried off , promising to have the bill `` done '' by a party with whose intimacy Mr. Abrams was favored . And it chanced that Strong heard of this transaction at the place where the writings had been drawn -- in the back parlor , namely , of Mr. Santiago 's cigar-shop , where the chevalier was constantly in the habit of spending an hour in the evening .