six o'clock in the
evening
Tiny 's doll and Julian 's ball were more enlivening to the place than even Cuthbert 's sketches and Nora 's bunches of wild flowers . And here , too , Wyvis followed them in an aimless , subdued sort of way ; and , having asked and obtained permission to light a cigarette , he threw himself into a favorite chair , and seemed to listen dreamily , while Janetta held patient discourse with his mother on the ailments of the locality and the difficulty of getting the housework done . Janetta glanced at him from time to time ; he sat so quietly that she would have thought him sleeping but for the faint blue spirals of smoke that went up from his cigarette . It was six o'clock in the evening , and the golden lights and long shadows made Janetta long to be out of doors ; but Mrs. Brand had a nervous fear of rheumatism , and did not want to move . `` What is that ? '' said Wyvis , suddenly rousing himself . Nobody else had heard anything .