three in the afternoon
The ways were a foot deep in mire , and about Carnwath the bog had overflowed and the whole neighbourhood swam in a loch . It was pitiful to see the hay afloat like water-weeds , and the green oats scarcely showing above the black floods . In two minutes after starting I was wet to the skin , and I thanked Providence I had left my little Dutch _ Horace _ behind me in the book-box . By three in the afternoon I was as unkempt as any tinker , my hair plastered over my eyes , and every fold of my coat running like a gutter . Presently the time came for me to leave the road and take the short-cut over the moors ; but in the deluge , where the eyes could see no more than a yard or two into a grey wall of rain , I began to misdoubt my knowledge of the way . On the left I saw a stone dovecot and a cluster of trees about a gateway ; so , knowing how few and remote were the dwellings on the moorland , I judged it wiser to seek guidance before I strayed too far . The place was grown up with grass and sore neglected .