four
o'clock
It was quite three o'clock , when as physiologists tell us the vital forces are at their lowest , before it could be said that the city was asleep . And that sleep did not last long . Soon the creaking of market cart and waggon wheels , the shouts of drovers and waggoners , tramping horses , bellowing cattle and bleating sheep would dispel the stillness and proclaim the beginning of another day . Business in the approaches to the markets was in full swing before four o'clock . Carters and waggoners were thirsty and hungry souls and the eating houses and saloop stalls were thronged . The Old Bailey , from its nearness to Smithfield was crowded , and the buxom proprietress of Fenton 's coffee house was hard put to it to serve her clamorous customers and to see that she was n't cheated or robbed . Mrs. Fenton had improved in appearance as well as in circumstances since she had come from Bedfordbury to the Old Bailey .