three in the
afternoon
He smoked a pipe in the house or when he walked abroad , but a Manila cheroot -LRB- he belonged to the age of cheroots -RRB- when he rode or drove ; and he never rode on a Sunday , but either walked or used a dog-cart . Also by habit -- or again , if you please , superstition -- he preached one sermon , not necessarily a new one , every week . To-day he had broken through this last custom , but observed the others . After an abbreviated Morning Service he lit a cheroot , climbed into his dog-cart , and drove off towards Meriton at a brisk pace , being due to perform his errand there and report himself at Meriton by three in the afternoon . For luncheon he carried a box of sandwiches and a flask of whisky and water . His horse -- a tall , free-stepping bay , by name Archdeacon -- was , properly speaking , a hunter , and the Parson , in driving as in riding him , just rattled him along , letting him feel the rein but seldom , or never using it to interfere with his pace . The entrance gates at Meriton are ancient and extremely handsome , wrought of the old iron of East Sussex , and fashioned , somewhere in the mid-eighteenth century , after an elaborate Florentine pattern -- tradition says , by smiths imported from Italy .