about three in the
afternoon
There was I , sitting in that verandah , in as handsome a piece of scenery as you could find , a splendid sun , and a fine fresh healthy trade that stirred up a man 's blood like sea-bathing ; and the whole thing was clean gone from me , and I was dreaming England , which is , after all , a nasty , cold , muddy hole , with not enough light to see to read by ; and dreaming the looks of my public , by a cant of a broad high-road like an avenue , and with the sign on a green tree . So much for the morning , but the day passed and the devil anyone looked near me , and from all I knew of natives in other islands I thought this strange . People laughed a little at our firm and their fine stations , and at this station of Falesá in particular ; all the copra in the district would n't pay for it -LRB- I had heard them say -RRB- in fifty years , which I supposed was an exaggeration . But when the day went , and no business came at all , I began to get downhearted ; and , about three in the afternoon , I went out for a stroll to cheer me up . On the green I saw a white man coming with a cassock on , by which and by the face of him I knew he was a priest . He was a good-natured old soul to look at , gone a little grizzled , and so dirty you could have written with him on a piece of paper . `` Good day , sir , '' said I .