About a quarter to seven
Adam hastened with long strides , Gyp close to his heels , out of the workyard , and along the highroad leading away from the village and down to the valley . As he reached the foot of the slope , an elderly horseman , with his portmanteau strapped behind him , stopped his horse when Adam had passed him , and turned round to have another long look at the stalwart workman in paper cap , leather breeches , and dark-blue worsted stockings . Adam , unconscious of the admiration he was exciting , presently struck across the fields , and now broke out into the tune which had all day long been running in his head : Let all thy converse be sincere , Thy conscience as the noonday clear ; For God 's all-seeing eye surveys Thy secret thoughts , thy works and ways . The Preaching About a quarter to seven there was an unusual appearance of excitement in the village of Hayslope , and through the whole length of its little street , from the Donnithorne Arms to the churchyard gate , the inhabitants had evidently been drawn out of their houses by something more than the pleasure of lounging in the evening sunshine . The Donnithorne Arms stood at the entrance of the village , and a small farmyard and stackyard which flanked it , indicating that there was a pretty take of land attached to the inn , gave the traveller a promise of good feed for himself and his horse , which might well console him for the ignorance in which the weather-beaten sign left him as to the heraldic bearings of that ancient family , the Donnithornes . Mr. Casson , the landlord , had been for some time standing at the door with his hands in his pockets , balancing himself on his heels and toes and looking towards a piece of unenclosed ground , with a maple in the middle of it , which he knew to be the destination of certain grave-looking men and women whom he had observed passing at intervals . Mr. Casson 's person was by no means of that common type which can be allowed to pass without description .