two o'clock
he said . `` That house do n't look big ; we might get a night 's lodging as cheap as in the villages . '' But though the little Norman girl of seven nodded a friendly greeting to pretty brown-eyed Maurice as he passed , and though the making of lace on bobbins must be a delightful employment , Cecile felt there could be no tidings of Lovedy for her there ; and after partaking of a little hot soup in the smallest cafe they could come across , the little pilgrims found themselves outside Caen and in the desolate and wintry country , when it was still early in the day . Early it was , not being yet quite two o'clock ; but it might have been three or four hours later to judge by the light . The snow , it is true , had for the present ceased to fall , but the blackness of the sky was so great that the ground appeared light by comparison . A wind , which sounded more like a wailing cry than any wind the children had ever heard , seemed to fill the atmosphere . It was not a noisy wind , and it came in gusts , dying away , and then repeating itself .