five in the afternoon
No , they did n't want him . One said if he was bigger he might do ; another wanted to know if he could keep accounts ; one thought that the man around the corner wanted a boy , and when Fred got there he had just engaged one . Weary , disappointed , and discouraged , he sat down by the iron railing that fenced a showy house , and thought what he should do . It was almost five in the afternoon : cold , dismal , leaden-gray was the sky -- the darkness already coming on . Fred sat listlessly watching the great snow feathers , as they slowly sailed down from the sky . Now he heard gay laughs , as groups of merry children passed ; and then he started , as he saw some woman in a black bonnet , and thought she looked like his mother . But all passed , and nobody looked at him , nobody wanted him , nobody noticed him .