midday
As far as they were concerned , she had vanished into oblivion . And Joe felt more relieved even than he had felt when he heard the firing cease , after the news had come that the armistice was signed . There was thin , crisp snow on the ground , the sky was blue , the wind very cold , the air clear . Farmers were just turning out the cows for an hour or so in the midday , and the smell of cow-sheds was unendurable as I entered Tible . I noticed the ash-twigs up in the sky were pale and luminous , passing into the blue . And then I saw the peacocks . There they were in the road before me , three of them , and tailless , brown , speckled birds , with dark-blue necks and ragged crests .