nearly four o’clock
Until a pennyworth of acrid green apples turned the current that threatened to carry him away . Ever and again a cycle , or a party of cyclists , would go by , with glittering wheels and softly running chains , and on each occasion , to save his self-respect , Mr. Hoopdriver descended and feigned some trouble with his saddle . Each time he descended with less trepidation . He did not reach Guildford until nearly four o'clock , and then he was so much exhausted that he decided to put up there for the night , at the Yellow Hammer Coffee Tavern . And after he had cooled a space and refreshed himself with tea and bread and butter and jam , -- the tea he drank noisily out of the saucer , -- he went out to loiter away the rest of the afternoon . Guildford is an altogether charming old town , famous , so he learnt from a Guide Book , as the scene of Master Tupper 's great historical novel of Stephen Langton , and it has a delightful castle , all set about with geraniums and brass plates commemorating the gentlemen who put them up , and its Guildhall is a Tudor building , very pleasant to see , and in the afternoon the shops are busy and the people going to and fro make the pavements look bright and prosperous . It was nice to peep in the windows and see the heads of the men and girls in the drapers ' shops , busy as busy , serving away .