three o'clock
Miss Dorothea possessed a telescope , too ; and if the coach were dressed with laurels and flags announcing a victory , mistress and maid would run to the gates and wave their handkerchiefs as it passed . Sometimes , too , Polly would announce a post-chaise , and the telescope decide whether the postboys wore the blue or the buff . Nor were these their only causes of excitement ; for the great Bayfield elm , a rood below the gates and in full view of them , marked the westward boundary of the French prisoners on parole . Some of these were quite regular in their walks for instance , Rear-Admiral de Wailly-Duchemin and General Rochambeau , who came at three o'clock or thereabouts on Wednesdays and Saturdays , summer and winter . At six paces on the far side of the elm -- such was their punctilio -- they halted , took snuff , linked arms again and turned back . -LRB- Dorothea had entertained them both at Bayfield , and met them at dinner in one or two neighbouring houses . -RRB- On the same days , and on Mondays as well , old Jean Pierre Pichou , ex-boatswain of the _ Didon _ frigate , would come along arm-in-arm with Julien Carales , alias Frap d'Abord , ex - _ marechal des logis _ -- Pichou , with his wooden leg , and Frap d'Abord twisting a grey moustache and uttering a steady torrent of imprecation -- or so it sounded .