eight o'clock
The church party recoiled in horror from the thought of eating nonconformist sandwiches ; whilst if the lemonade were of church manufacture it would mean that scores of dissenters would have a thirsty afternoon . The problem had been solved by Lady Knob-Kerrick , who insisted that the order should be placed with a London firm of caterers , which , as a limited company , could not be expected to have religious convictions . Thus it was that the order went to Harridge 's Stores . By eight o'clock on the morning of the Fête a pantechnicon was lumbering its ungainly way along the Portsmouth Road . Bindle sat meditatively on the tail-board , smoking and obviously bored . With the wholesome contempt of an incorrigible cockney he contemplated the landscape . '' ` Edges , trees , an ' fields , an ' a mile to walk for a drink .