about twelve o'clock
After breakfast the male guests wandered disconsolately into the cold billiard-room , and began knocking the balls about . All the loquacious cheerfulness of the major had fled . He looked out on the wet park and the sombre woods , and sighed . But about twelve o'clock there was a great hurry and confusion throughout the house ; for all of a sudden the skies in the west cleared ; there was a glimmer of blue ; and then gleams of a pale wan light began to stream over the landscape . There was a rash to the gun-room , and an eager putting on of shooting-boots and leggings ; there was a rapid tying up of small packages of sandwiches ; presently the wagonette was at the door . And then away they went over the hard gravel , and out into the wet roads , with the sunlight now beginning to light up the beautiful woods about Crawley . The horses seemed to know there was no time to lose .