about three o'clock
Then they all took up their various equipments , and strolled off smoking to the forest . The man from Paris was engaged upon a large historical canvas representing an incident in the life of Diane de Poitiers . The incident had Diane 's forest for a setting , but his trees did not satisfy him , he had come down to make a few fresh studies on the spot . David walked his four miles to Fontainebleau , bought his cobalt , and set his face homewards about three o'clock . When he was halfway home , he turned aside into a tangle of young beech wood , parted the branches , and found a shady corner where he could rest and think . The sun was very hot , the high road was scorched by it . But it was not heat or fatigue that had made him pause .