nine o’clock
It 's just a scramble -- nothing more . I 've gone too far to wash my hands of it now , but I wish I had never touched it . '' In spite of all professional misgivings on the part of the Champion and his pupil , the imperious will of the woman prevailed , and everything was carried out exactly as she had directed . At nine o'clock Tom Spring found himself upon the box-seat of the Brighton coach , and waved his hand in goodbye to burly Tom Cribb , who stood , the admired of a ring of waiters and ostlers , upon the doorstep of the Golden Cross . It was in the pleasant season when summer is mellowing into autumn , and the first golden patches are seen amid the beeches and the ferns . The young country-bred lad breathed more freely when he had left the weary streets of Southwark and Lewisham behind him , and he watched with delight the glorious prospect as the coach , whirled along by six dapple greys , passed by the classic grounds of Knowle , or after crossing Riverside Hill skirted the vast expanse of the Weald of Kent . Past Tonbridge School went the coach , and on through Southborough , until it wound down a steep , curving road with strange outcrops of sandstone beside it , and halted before a great hostelry , bearing the name which had been given him in his directions .