About four o'clock
There was also promenading , and the steam organ attached to a small roundabout filled the air with a pungent flavour of oil and with equally pungent music . Members of the club , who had attended church in the morning , were splendid in badges of pink and green , and some of the gayer-minded had also adorned their bowler hats with brilliant-coloured favours of ribbon . Old Fletcher , whose conceptions of holiday-making were severe , was visible through the jasmine about his window or through the open door -LRB- whichever way you chose to look -RRB- , poised delicately on a plank supported on two chairs , and whitewashing the ceiling of his front room . About four o'clock a stranger entered the village from the direction of the downs . He was a short , stout person in an extraordinarily shabby top hat , and he appeared to be very much out of breath . His cheeks were alternately limp and tightly puffed . His mottled face was apprehensive , and he moved with a sort of reluctant alacrity .