noon
Is it not commonly so in all reaction from excitements in which self-love has been keenly galled ? Does not vanity enter into the lust of crime as into the desire of fame ? At sunrise Losely found himself on the high-road into which a labyrinth of lanes had led him , and opposite to a milestone , by which he learned that he had been long turning his back on the metropolis , and that he was about ten miles distant from the provincial city of Ouzelford . By this time his horse was knocked up , and his own chronic pains began to make themselves acutely felt ; so that , when , a little farther on , he came to a wayside inn , he was glad to halt ; and after a strong drain , which had the effect of an opiate , he betook himself to bed , and slept till the noon was far advanced . When Losely came down-stairs , the common room of the inn was occupied by a meeting of the trustees of the highroads ; and , on demanding breakfast , he was shown into a small sanded parlour adjoining the kitchen . Two other occupants -- a man and a woman -- were there already , seated at a table by the fireside , over a pint of half-and-half . Losely , warming himself at the hearth , scarcely noticed these humble revellers by a glance .