one o'clock
The party , therefore , consisted only of Sir Walter and Miss Scott , Miss Macdonald Buchanan -LRB- who was almost one of the family -RRB- , and myself . Being the only stranger , I consequently came in for a larger share of my amiable host 's time and attention than I should otherwise have been entitled to expect . Many a pleasant tale and amusing anecdote I might have had to relate had I written down half of what I daily heard ; but I had always an invincible repugnance to playing the _ reporter _ and taking down people 's words under their own roof . Every day Sir Walter was ready by one o'clock to accompany us either in driving or walking , often in both , and in either there was the same inexhaustible flow of legendary lore , romantic incident , apt quotation , curious or diverting story ; and sometimes old ballads were recited , commemorative of some of the localities through which he passed . Those who had seen him only amidst the ordinary avocations of life , or even doing the honours of his own table , could scarcely have conceived the fire and animation of his countenance at such times , when his eyes seemed literally to kindle , and even -LRB- as some one has remarked -RRB- to change their colour and become a sort of deep sapphire blue ; but , perhaps , from being close to him and in the open air , I was more struck with this peculiarity than those whose better sight enabled them to mark his varying expression at other times . Yet I must confess this was an enthusiasm I found as little infectious as that of his antiquarianism . On the contrary , I often wished his noble faculties had been exercised on loftier themes than those which seemed to stir his very soul .