three o'clock in the afternoon
Yes , to-day he envied no one -- neither Tom Bassett nor Dudley Webb , neither the general nor the judge . He held the books tightly under his arm and smiled down upon the road . His clumsy , store-made boots left heavy tracks in the dust , but he seemed to be treading air . It was three o'clock in the afternoon of a murky day in early November , and the clouds were swollen with incoming autumnal rains . The open country stretched before him in monotonous grays , the long road gleaming pallid in the general drab of the landscape . As he passed along , holding his hat in his hand , his uplifted head struck the single , high-coloured note in the picture -- all else was dull and leaden . A farmer driving a cow to market neared him , and Nicholas stopped to remark upon the outlook .