Nine o'clock
`` When did you have anything to eat last ? '' he asked ; the depressed looks of the children were making him quite unhappy . `` Mother has sent you biscuits and sandwiches , but we , ca n't get coffee or anything hot till we get home . '' Nine o'clock , Esther told him , at Newcastle , but it was so boiling hot they had had to leave most of it in their cups and scramble into the train again . The horses were whipped up ; and flew over the muddy roads at a pace that Pip , despite his weariness , could not but admire . But it was a very damp , miserable drive , and the General wept with hardly a break from start to finish , greatly to Esther 's vexation , for it was his first introduction to his grandfather . At last , when everyone was beginning to feel the very end of patience had come , a high white gate broke the monotony of dripping wet fences .