three o'clock in the
afternoon
Jacob knocked out his pipe . He was certainly thinking about Home Rule in Ireland -- a very difficult matter . A very cold night . The snow , which had been falling all night , lay at three o'clock in the afternoon over the fields and the hill . Clumps of withered grass stood out upon the hill-top ; the furze bushes were black , and now and then a black shiver crossed the snow as the wind drove flurries of frozen particles before it . The sound was that of a broom sweeping -- sweeping . The stream crept along by the road unseen by any one .