the hour of ten
` Well , so be it , then , ' assented Mr. Thornton ; ` you draw at three months , and Mr. Waffles will accept , payable at Coutts 's . ' After so much liberality , Mr. Caingey expected that Mr. Sponge would have hinted at something handsome for him ; but all Sponge said was , ` So be it , ' too , as he walked away to buy a bill-stamp . Mr. Waffles was more considerate , and promised him the first mount on his new purchase , though Caingey would rather have had a ten , or even a five-pound note . Towards the hour of ten on that eventful day , numerous gaitered , trousered , and jacketed grooms began to ride up and down the High Street , most of them with their stirrups crossed negligently on the pommels of the saddles , to indicate that their masters were going to ride the horses , and not them . The street grew lively , not so much with people going to hunt , as with people coming to see those who were . Tattered Hibernians , with rags on their backs and jokes on their lips ; young English _ chevaliers d'industrie _ , with their hands ready to dive into anybody 's pockets but their own ; stablemen out of place , servants loitering on their errands , striplings helping them , ladies ' - maids with novels or three-corner 'd notes , and a good crop of beggars . ` What , Spareneck , do you ride the grey to-day ?