six o'clock
`` None that can be quite depended on as yet , '' he answered , `` but it 's early times as yet . '' He had gone into every late or early public-house where there was a light -LRB- they were not a few at that time , the road being then much frequented by drovers -RRB- and had got down to talk to the turnpike-keepers . I had heard him ordering drink , and chinking money , and making himself agreeable and merry everywhere ; but whenever he took his seat upon the box again , his face resumed its watchful steady look , and he always said to the driver in the same business tone , `` Get on , my lad ! '' With all these stoppages , it was between five and six o'clock and we were yet a few miles short of Saint Albans when he came out of one of these houses and handed me in a cup of tea . `` Drink it , Miss Summerson , it 'll do you good . You 're beginning to get more yourself now , ai n't you ? '' I thanked him and said I hoped so .