three o'clock
I had no watch , and my only means of knowing the time was to hear the striking of a clock in the neighbourhood . As a rule , I awoke just when I should have done ; the clock struck five , and up I sprang . But occasionally -- and this when the mornings had grown dark -- my punctual habit failed me ; I would hear the clock chime some fraction of the hour , and could not know whether I had awoke too soon or slept too long . The horror of unpunctuality , which has always been a craze with me , made it impossible to lie waiting ; more than once I dressed and went out into the street to discover as best I could what time it was , and one such expedition , I well remember , took place between two and three o'clock on a morning of foggy rain . It happened now and then that , on reaching the house at Knightsbridge , I was informed that Mr. -- felt too tired to rise . This concerned me little , for it meant no deduction of fee ; I had the two hours ' walk , and was all the better for it . Then the appetite with which I sat down to breakfast , whether I had done my coaching or not !