three o'clock in
the afternoon
He shook his head , sighed , and went in to dinner . Bobby was not in the house , and the master of it avoided inquiring for him . He also avoided the wifie 's wistful eye , and he busied himself inside the two kirks all the afternoon . Because he was in the kirks , and the beautiful memorial windows of stained glass were not for the purpose of looking out , he did not see a dramatic incident that occurred in the kirkyard after three o'clock in the afternoon . The prelude to it really began with the report of the timegun at one . Bobby had insisted upon being let out of the lodge kitchen , and had spent the morning near Auld Jock 's grave and in nosing about neighboring slabs and thorn bushes . When the time-gun boomed he trotted to the gate quite openly and waited there inside the wicket .