midday
And the mists had all solemnly risen now , and the world lay spread before me . This is the end of the first stage of Pip 's expectations . The journey from our town to the metropolis was a journey of about five hours . It was a little past midday when the four-horse stage-coach by which I was a passenger , got into the ravel of traffic frayed out about the Cross Keys , Wood Street , Cheapside , London . We Britons had at that time particularly settled that it was treasonable to doubt our having and our being the best of everything : otherwise , while I was scared by the immensity of London , I think I might have had some faint doubts whether it was not rather ugly , crooked , narrow , and dirty . Mr. Jaggers had duly sent me his address ; it was , Little Britain , and he had written after it on his card , `` just out of Smithfield , and close by the coach-office . '' Nevertheless , a hackney-coachman , who seemed to have as many capes to his greasy great-coat as he was years old , packed me up in his coach and hemmed me in with a folding and jingling barrier of steps , as if he were going to take me fifty miles .