About ten o'clock
Suffering ; dignity ; tenderness ; resignation 415 XII . How the great flaw was discovered in Mr. Aubrey 's title ; but a terrible hitch occurs in the proceedings of his opponents 431 XIII . Madam Aubrey 's death and burial ; Gammon smitten with the sight of Kate Aubrey 's beauty ; and a great battle takes place at the York assizes for Yatton 454 Notes 507 About ten o'clock one Sunday morning , in the month of July 18 -- , the dazzling sunbeams , which had for several hours irradiated a little dismal back attic in one of the closest courts adjoining Oxford Street , in London , and stimulated with their intensity the closed eyelids of a young man -- one TITTLEBAT TITMOUSE -- lying in bed , at length awoke him . He rubbed his eyes for some time , to relieve himself from the irritation occasioned by the sudden glare they encountered ; and yawned and stretched his limbs with a heavy sense of weariness , as though his sleep had not refreshed him . He presently cast his eyes towards the heap of clothes lying huddled together on the backless chair by the bedside , where he had hastily flung them about an hour after midnight ; at which time he had returned from a great draper 's shop in Oxford Street , where he served as a shopman , and where he had nearly dropped asleep , after a long day 's work , in the act of putting up the shutters . He could hardly keep his eyes open while he undressed , short as was the time required to do so ; and on dropping exhausted into bed , there he had continued , in deep unbroken slumber , till the moment of his being presented to the reader .