four o'clock
On the contrary , all the faculties of his soul were so well adapted , and had been so long habituated to deceit , that , in order to extricate himself from the evils that environed him , he would not , in all probability , have scrupled to practise it upon his own father , had a convenient opportunity occurred . Be that as it may , he certainly , after a tedious and fruitless exercise of his invention , resolved to effect a clandestine retreat from that confederacy of enemies which he could not withstand , and once more join his fortune to that of Renaldo , whom he proposed to serve , for the future , with fidelity and affection , thereby endeavouring to atone for the treachery of his former conduct . Thus determined , he packed up his necessaries in a portmanteau , attempted to amuse his creditors with promises of speedy payment , and , venturing to come forth in the dark , took a place in the Canterbury stage-coach , after having converted his superfluities into ready money . These steps were not taken with such privacy as to elude the vigilance of his adversaries ; for , although he had been cautious enough to transport himself and his baggage to the inn on Sunday evening , and never doubted that the vehicle , which set out at four o'clock on Monday morning , would convey him out of the reach of his creditors , before they could possibly obtain a writ for securing his person , they had actually taken such precautions as frustrated all his finesse ; and the coach being stopped in the borough of Southwark , Doctor Fathom was seized by virtue of a warrant obtained on a criminal indictment , and was forthwith conducted to the prison of the King 's Bench ; yet , not before he had , by his pathetic remonstrances , excited the compassion , and even drawn tears from the eyes of his fellow-passengers . He no sooner recollected himself from the shock which must have been occasioned by this sinister incident , than he despatched a letter to his brother-in-law , the counsellor , requesting an immediate conference , in which he promised to make such a proposal as would save him all the expense of a lawsuit and trial , and , at the same time , effectually answer all the purposes of both . He was accordingly favoured with a visit from the lawyer , to whom , after the most solemn protestations of his own innocence , he declared , that , finding himself unable to wage war against such powerful antagonists , he had resolved even to abandon his indubitable right , and retire into another country , in order to screen himself from persecution , and remove all cause of disquiet from the prosecutrix , when he was , unfortunately , prevented by the warrant which had been executed against him . He said he was still willing , for the sake of his liberty , to sign a formal renunciation of his pretensions to Mrs. Fathom and her fortune , provided the deeds could be executed , and the warrant withdrawn , before he should be detained by his other creditors ; and , lastly , he conjured the barrister to spare himself the guilt and the charge of suborning evidence for the destruction of an unhappy man , whose misfortune was his only fault .