six o'clock
-LSB- Sidenote : The opening scene of this . -RSB- The sun had finished more than half his course , and his chariot , having reached the slope of the world , was running quicker than he wished . If his horses had chosen to avail themselves of the drop of the road , they would have got through what remained of the day in less than half or quarter of an hour ; but instead of pulling at full strength , they merely amused themselves by curvetting , as they drew in a salt air , which told them the sea , wherein men say their master goes to bed every night , was close at hand . To speak more like a man of this world , and more intelligibly , it was between five and six o'clock , when a cart came into the market-place of Le Mans . This cart was drawn by four very lean oxen , with , for leader , a brood-mare , whose foal scampered about round the cart , like a silly little thing as it was . The cart was full of boxes and trunks , and of great bundles of painted canvas , which made a sort of pyramid , on the top of which appeared a damsel , dressed partly as for town , partly for country . By the side of the cart walked a young man , as ill-dressed as he was good-looking .