one o'clock
This Nicholas Snowe was to come in the evening , with his three tall comely daughters , strapping girls , and well skilled in the dairy ; and the story was all over the parish , on a stupid conceit of John Fry 's , that I should have been in love with all three , if there had been but one of them . These Snowes were to come , and come they did , partly because Mr. Huckaback liked to see fine young maidens , and partly because none but Nicholas Snowe could smoke a pipe now all around our parts , except of the very high people , whom we durst never invite . And Uncle Ben , as we all knew well , was a great hand at his pipe , and would sit for hours over it , in our warm chimney-corner , and never want to say a word , unless it were inside him ; only he liked to have somebody there over against him smoking . -LSB- Illustration : 105.jpg Uncle Ben in our warm chimney-corner -RSB- Now when I came in , before one o'clock , after seeing to the cattle -- for the day was thicker than ever , and we must keep the cattle close at home , if we wished to see any more of them -- I fully expected to find Uncle Ben sitting in the fireplace , lifting one cover and then another , as his favourite manner was , and making sweet mouths over them ; for he loved our bacon rarely , and they had no good leeks at Dulverton ; and he was a man who always would see his business done himself . But there instead of my finding him with his quaint dry face pulled out at me , and then shut up sharp not to be cheated -- who should run out but Betty Muxworthy , and poke me with a saucepan lid . `` Get out of that now , Betty , '' I said in my politest manner , for really Betty was now become a great domestic evil . She would have her own way so , and of all things the most distressful was for a man to try to reason .