about twelve o'clock
Captain O'Donnell has been so good as to treat me with a play . '' The reply , it may be supposed , was anything but courteous but the captain , who had been all the time at the door discharging the coach , entered , and Mr. Lavement , changing his tone , saluted him with all the usual politesse of a Frenchman . Shortly after this event , by the knowledge which I acquired of the family secrets , my life became much more agreeable ; and as I every day improved in my knowledge of the town I shook off my awkward air by degrees , and acquired the character of a polite journeyman apothecary . I am assaulted and dangerously wounded-suspect O'Donnell , and am confirmed in my opinion -- concert a scheme of revenge , and put it into execution -- O'Donnell robs his own servant and disappears -- make my addresses to a lady , and am miraculously delivered from her snare One night , at about twelve o'clock , as I returned from visiting a patient at Chelsea , I received a blow on my head from an unseen hand , that stretched me senseless on the ground ; and was left for dead with three stabs of a sword in my body . The groans I uttered when I recovered the use of my reason alarmed the people of a solitary alehouse that stood near the spot where I lay : and they were humane enough to take me in , and send for a surgeon , who dressed my wounds , and assured me they were not mortal . One of them penetrated through the skin and muscles of one side of my belly in such a manner , that doubtless the assassin imagined he had run me through the entrails . The second slanted along one of my ribs ; and the last , which was intended for the finishing stroke , having been directed to my heart , the sword snapped upon my breast-bone , and the point remained sticking in the skin .