six in the morning
My boots might be placed in any collection of instruments of torture . I provided , and sent down by the Norwood coach the night before , a delicate little hamper , amounting in itself , I thought , almost to a declaration . There were crackers in it with the tenderest mottoes that could be got for money . At six in the morning , I was in Covent Garden Market , buying a bouquet for Dora . At ten I was on horseback -LRB- I hired a gallant grey , for the occasion -RRB- , with the bouquet in my hat , to keep it fresh , trotting down to Norwood . I suppose that when I saw Dora in the garden and pretended not to see her , and rode past the house pretending to be anxiously looking for it , I committed two small fooleries which other young gentlemen in my circumstances might have committed -- because they came so very natural to me . But oh !