five o’clock
The moisture slid down the back of your neck , laid itself like a wet towel about your knees , penetrated into your boots and far up your trousers . A few sanguine ladies were standing in the _ portes cochères _ , with their skirts tucked up , expecting it to clear ; others waited by the hour in the omnibus stations . But most of the stronger sex hurried along under their umbrellas ; only a few had been sensible enough to give up the battle , and had turned up their collars , stuck their umbrellas under their arms , and their hands in their pockets . Although it was early in the autumn it was already dusk at five o'clock . A few gas-jets lighted in the narrowest streets , and in a shop here and there , strove to shine out in the thick wet air . People swarmed as usual in the streets , jostled one another off the pavement , and ruined one another 's umbrellas . All the cabs were taken up ; they splashed along and bespattered the foot-passengers to the best of their ability , while the asphalte glistened in the dim light with a dense coating of mud .