eleven
o'clock
They were painfully anxious to be utterly faithful , and had an odd sort of tender but imaginative pity towards him , but they could grasp no more . Both of them hesitated when they said father ; every time they returned home and found him there it was with a sensation of surprise . Three days after Abel Edwards 's return came one of the severest rain-storms ever known in Upham . The storm began before light ; when people first looked out in the morning their windows were glazed with streaming wet , but it did not reach its full fury until eleven o'clock . Then the rain fell in green and hissing sheets . `` Gorry , '' Martin Cheeseman said , looking out of the mill door , which seemed to open into a solid wall of water , `` looks as if the great deep was turned upsidedown overhead . If it keeps on this way long there 'll be mischief . ''