afternoon about five o’clock
He passed her house as often as he dared , and studied her movements . When he saw her in the distance he felt an acute thrill of mingled hope and misery . Only once did he meet her fairly , walking with her brother , and then she either failed to see him or pretended not to . One afternoon about five o'clock he left his office and started home in his car . A storm was piling up rapidly in big black clouds that rose from behind the eastern mountains like giants peering from ambush . It was sultry ; there were loud peals of thunder and long crooked flashes of lightning . At this season of late summer the weather staged such a portentous display almost every afternoon , and it rained heavily in the mountains ; but the showers only reached the thirsty _ mesa _ and valley lands about one day in four .