a quarter to one
We sat all three upon the front seat , but even so we were hard put to it to keep warm . The prospect of a hot lunch at Pistol was pleasant indeed . Jonah was driving , and the Rolls slid through the country like a great grey bird , sailing and swooping and swerving so gracefully that it was difficult to believe the tale which the speedometer told . Yet this was true enough , for it was not a quarter to one when we swept round the last corner and into the long straight reach of tarmac , at the top of which lay the village we sought . Pistol is embedded in a high moor , snug and warm , for all its eminence . The moor itself is girt with waving woods that stretch and toss for miles , making a deep sloping sash of foliage which Autumn will dye with such grave glory that the late loss of Summer and her pretty ways seems easier to bear . Orange and purple copper and gold , russet and crimson -- these in a hundred tones tremble and glow in one giant harmony , out of which , at the release of sun , come swelling chords so deep and rich and vivid that the sweet air is quick with stifled music and every passing breeze charged to the full with silent melody .