noon
So it was decided ; and the charioteer , already somewhat mollified , turned aside his horse to the right . John , meanwhile , sat collapsed , his chin sunk upon his chest , his mind in abeyance . The smell of the cab was still faintly present to his senses , and a certain leaden chill about his feet ; all else had disappeared in one vast oppression of calamity and physical faintness . It was drawing on to noon -- two-and-twenty hours since he had broken bread ; in the interval he had suffered tortures of sorrow and alarm , and had been partly tipsy ; and though it was impossible to say he slept , yet when the cab stopped , and the cabman thrust his head into the window , his attention had to be recalled from depths of vacancy . `` If you 'll no ' _ stand _ me a dram , '' said the driver , with a well-merited severity of tone and manner , `` I daresay ye 'll have no objection to my taking one mysel ' ? '' `` Yes -- no -- do what you like , '' returned John ; and then , as he watched his tormentor mount the stairs and enter the whisky-shop , there floated into his mind a sense as of something long ago familiar . At that he started fully awake , and stared at the shop-fronts .