about seven o'clock
Sometimes , when she looked in the mirror , she was filled with a fierce belief in a destiny to sit in the high seats , to receive homage and dispense bounties , to discourse with great intellects , to know London and Paris and the marts and centres of the world as her father had . To escape -- only to escape from the prison walls of a humdrum existence , and to soar ! Let us , if we can , reconstruct an August day when all -LRB- or nearly all -RRB- of Honora 's small friends were gone eastward to the mountains or the seaside . In `` the little house under the hill , '' the surface of which was a hot slate roof , Honora would awake about seven o'clock to find old Catherine bending over her in a dun-coloured calico dress , with the light fiercely beating against the closed shutters that braved it so unflinchingly throughout the day . `` The birds are before ye , Miss Honora , honey , and your uncle waterin ' his roses this half-hour . '' Uncle Tom was indeed an early riser . As Honora dressed -LRB- Catherine assisting as at a ceremony -RRB- , she could see him , in his seersucker coat , bending tenderly over his beds ; he lived enveloped in a peace which has since struck wonder to Honora 's soul .