eight o'clock
He was aware that Mr. Redbrook was bringing arguments to bear on the matter of the meeting of the evening before , but he fended these lightly , while in spirit he flung a gem-studded bridle aver the neck of Pegasus . And after breakfast -- away from the haunts of men ! Away from the bickerings , the subjection of mean spirits ; material loss and gain and material passion ! By eight o'clock -LRB- the Widow Peasley 's household being an early and orderly one -RRB- he was swinging across the long hills , cleaving for himself a furrowed path in the untrodden snow , breathing deep as he gazed across the blue spaces from the crests . Bellerophon or Perseus , aided by immortals , felt no greater sense of achievements to come than he . Out here , on the wind-swept hills that rolled onward and upward to the mountains , the world was his . With the same speed he returned , still by untrodden paths until he reached the country road that ended in the city street .