about eight o'clock
` But it is n't likely , ' he said ; ` the weather seems settled . ' And the same close , blue weather that had prevailed before the storm returned , the same diffused sunlight . ` There is nothing so depressing , ' the priest said , ` as seeing swallows flying a few feet from the ground . ' It was about eight o'clock -- the day had begun to droop in his garden -- that he walked up and down the beds admiring his carnations . Every now and again the swallows collected into groups of some six or seven , and fled round the gables of his house shrieking . ` This is their dinner-hour ; the moths are about . ' He wondered on , thinking Nora lacking ; for she had never appreciated that beautiful flower Miss Shifner .