five o'clock on Christmas Eve
It was now Wednesday morning , and I started from Paris with sixteen hours before me in which to get to London . Ordinarily I should have had time enough and to spare , but everything was delayed and confused . I had thought of going back by Dieppe and Newhaven ; but a storm was blowing , and I knew that meant a longer sea-passage , so I went to Calais , thus riding through one of the most uninteresting parts of France . It was five o'clock on Christmas Eve when we arrived at this little French seaport , and then it took us two hours to cross the straits , although we happened to be on one of the fast-sailing steamers . We had now five hours to get to Kensington . I was getting terribly anxious now . If there should be a breakdown , or if anything should happen to hinder us !