one o’clock
` The mad old Protectionist , eh ? How did you come to know him ? ' ` We do n't know him to speak to . But he goes over the Heath every day at three , and he strides along like a giant -- with a black cloak like Lord Tennyson 's flying behind him , and he talks to himself like one o'clock . ' ` What does he say ? ' The Editor had sat down again , and he was fiddling with a blue pencil . ` We only heard him once , close enough to understand , and then he said , `` The curse of the country , sir -- ruin and desolation ! ''