five o’clock
Perhaps he had just dismounted on his return from the mine ; he was English enough to disregard the hottest hours of the day . Basilio , in a livery of white linen and a red sash , had squatted for a moment behind his heels to unstrap the heavy , blunt spurs in the patio ; and then the Senor Administrator would go up the staircase into the gallery . Rows of plants in pots , ranged on the balustrade between the pilasters of the arches , screened the corredor with their leaves and flowers from the quadrangle below , whose paved space is the true hearthstone of a South American house , where the quiet hours of domestic life are marked by the shifting of light and shadow on the flagstones . Senor Avellanos was in the habit of crossing the patio at five o'clock almost every day . Don Jose chose to come over at tea-time because the English rite at Dona Emilia 's house reminded him of the time he lived in London as Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James . He did not like tea ; and , usually , rocking his American chair , his neat little shiny boots crossed on the foot-rest , he would talk on and on with a sort of complacent virtuosity wonderful in a man of his age , while he held the cup in his hands for a long time . His close-cropped head was perfectly white ; his eyes coalblack .