five o'clock
His chop and potatoes , however , were eatable , and having got over as best he might the disgust created by the knives and forks , he contrived to swallow his dinner . He was not much disturbed : one young man , with pale face and watery fishlike eyes , wearing his hat ominously on one side , did come in and stare at him , and ask the girl , audibly enough , `` Who that old cock was ; '' but the annoyance went no further , and the warden was left seated on his wooden bench in peace , endeavouring to distinguish the different scents arising from lobsters , oysters , and salmon . Unknowing as Mr Harding was in the ways of London , he felt that he had somehow selected an ineligible dining-house , and that he had better leave it . It was hardly five o'clock ; -- how was he to pass the time till ten ? Five miserable hours ! He was already tired , and it was impossible that he should continue walking so long . He thought of getting into an omnibus , and going out to Fulham for the sake of coming back in another : this , however , would be weary work , and as he paid his bill to the woman in the shop , he asked her if there were any place near where he could get a cup of coffee .