twelve
o'clock
The sky , which had been remarkably clear down to within a day or two , was overcast , and the weather threatening , the wind having an unmistakable hint of water in it . Henchard wished he had not been quite so sure about the continuance of a fair season . But it was too late to modify or postpone , and the proceedings went on . At twelve o'clock the rain began to fall , small and steady , commencing and increasing so insensibly that it was difficult to state exactly when dry weather ended or wet established itself . In an hour the slight moisture resolved itself into a monotonous smiting of earth by heaven , in torrents to which no end could be prognosticated . A number of people had heroically gathered in the field but by three o'clock Henchard discerned that his project was doomed to end in failure . The hams at the top of the poles dripped watered smoke in the form of a brown liquor , the pig shivered in the wind , the grain of the deal tables showed through the sticking tablecloths , for the awning allowed the rain to drift under at its will , and to enclose the sides at this hour seemed a useless undertaking .