about five
o'clock
Nature , in one of her ironic moods , had cast a grey and iron-hard cloak over all the country 's bland luxuriance . From dawn till darkness fell there had been no movement in the steely distant sky ; a cold wind ruffed in the hedge-tops , and sent shivers through the branches of the elms . The cattle , dappled , pied , or bay , or white , continued grazing with an air of grumbling at their birthright . In a meadow close to the canal Shelton saw five magpies , and about five o'clock the rain began , a steady , coldly-sneering rain , which Crocker , looking at the sky , declared was going to be over in a minute . But it was not over in a minute ; they were soon drenched . Shelton was tired , and it annoyed him very much that his companion , who was also tired , should grow more cheerful . His thoughts kept harping upon Ferrand : `` This must be something like what he described to me , tramping on and on when you 're dead-beat , until you can cadge up supper and a bed . ''