four o'clock
As he sat in the A.B.C. shop and watched the squares of street opposite the window he felt suddenly that no effort of his would enable him to struggle successfully against those indifferent crowds . Above the houses in the patch of blue sky that filled the window-pane soft bundles of cloud streamed like flags before the wind . Into these soft grey meshes the sun was swept and with a cold shudder Fleet Street fell into shadow ; beyond it and above it the great dome burned ; a company of sandwich men , advertising on their stooping bodies the latest musical comedy , crept along the gutter . At the offices of _ The Saturday Illustrated _ they told him that if he returned at four o'clock he would be able to see the Editor . He walked about and at last sat down on the Embankment and watched the barges slide down the river . The water was feathery and sometimes streamed into lines like spun silk reflecting many colours , and above the water the clouds turned and wheeled and changed against the limpid blue . The little slap that the motion of the river gave to the stone embankment reminded him of the wooden jetty at Treliss -- the place was strangely sweet -- the roar of the Strand was far away and muffled .