Five o'clock
From the cool of the house came on a sudden the click of metal and the swift whirr of wheels . Somewhere a clock was in labour -- an old , old timepiece , to whom the telling of the hours was a grave matter . A moment later a thin old voice piped out the birth of a new period . Five o'clock . Peacefully Lyveden expelled a cloud of smoke . He need not be moving for another quarter of an hour . Upon the warm red bricks at his feet Patch lay dozing after his dish of weak tea .