nearly five o'clock
`` But -- '' `` I will have no ` buts . ' Promise what I ask , or I will hide myself from you for the rest of the day . '' `` I swear , then , '' says he ; and , so protected , Miss Massereene ventures down the balcony steps and accompanies him to the shaded end of the lawn . By this time it is nearly five o'clock , and as yet oppressively warm . The evening is coming with a determination to rival in dull heat the early part of the day . The sheep in great white snowy patches lie panting in the distant corners of the adjoining fields ; the cows , tired of whisking their foolish tails in an unsuccessful war with the insatiable flies , are all huddled together , and give way to mournful lows that reproach the tarrying milkmaid . Above in the branches a tiny bird essays to sing , but stops half stifled , and , forgetting the tuneful note , contents itself with a lazy `` cluck-cluck '' that presently degenerates still further into a dying `` coo '' that is hardly musical , because so full of sleep .