three o'clock
Having seen Adele comfortably seated in her little chair by Mrs. Fairfax 's parlour fireside , and given her her best wax doll -LRB- which I usually kept enveloped in silver paper in a drawer -RRB- to play with , and a story-book for change of amusement ; and having replied to her `` Revenez bientot , ma bonne amie , ma chere Mdlle . Jeannette , '' with a kiss I set out . The ground was hard , the air was still , my road was lonely ; I walked fast till I got warm , and then I walked slowly to enjoy and analyse the species of pleasure brooding for me in the hour and situation . It was three o'clock ; the church bell tolled as I passed under the belfry : the charm of the hour lay in its approaching dimness , in the low-gliding and pale-beaming sun . I was a mile from Thornfield , in a lane noted for wild roses in summer , for nuts and blackberries in autumn , and even now possessing a few coral treasures in hips and haws , but whose best winter delight lay in its utter solitude and leafless repose . If a breath of air stirred , it made no sound here ; for there was not a holly , not an evergreen to rustle , and the stripped hawthorn and hazel bushes were as still as the white , worn stones which causewayed the middle of the path . Far and wide , on each side , there were only fields , where no cattle now browsed ; and the little brown birds , which stirred occasionally in the hedge , looked like single russet leaves that had forgotten to drop .