about seven in the
evening
And as the Tally-ho was an early coach , they had driven out to the Peacock to be on the road . Tom had never been in London , and would have liked to have stopped at the Belle Sauvage , where they had been put down by the Star , just at dusk , that he might have gone roving about those endless , mysterious , gas-lit streets , which , with their glare and hum and moving crowds ; excited him so that he could n't talk even . But as soon as he found that the Peacock arrangement would get him to Rugby by twelve o'clock in the day , whereas otherwise he would n't be there till the evening , all other plans melted away ; his one absorbing aim being to become a public school-boy as fast as possible , and six hours sooner or later seeming to him of the most alarming importance . Tom and his father had alighted at the Peacock at about seven in the evening , and having heard with unfeigned joy the paternal order at the bar , of steaks and oyster sauce for supper in half an hour , and seen his father seated cozily by the bright fire in the coffee-room with the paper in his hand -- Tom had run out to see about him , had wondered at all the vehicles passing and repassing , and had fraternised with the boots and ostler , from whom he ascertained that the Tally-ho was a tip-top goer , ten miles an hour including stoppages and so punctual that all the road set their clocks by her . Then being summoned to supper he had regaled himself in one of the bright little boxes of the Peacock coffee-room on the beef-steak and unlimited oyster-sauce and brown stout -LRB- tasted then for the first time -- a day to be marked for ever by Tom with a white stone -RRB- ; had at first attended to the excellent advice which his father was bestowing on him from over his glass of steaming brandy and water , and then begun nodding from the united effects of the stout , the fire , and the lecture . Till the Squire observing Tom 's state , and remembering that it was nearly nine o'clock , and that the Tally-ho left at three , sent the little fellow off to the chambermaid , with a shake of the hand -LRB- Tom having stipulated in the morning before starting , that kissing should now cease between them , -RRB- and a few parting words . `` And now , Tom , my boy , '' said the Squire , `` remember you are going , at your own earnest request , to be chucked into this great school , like a young bear with all your troubles before you -- earlier than we should have sent you perhaps .