noon
In such contrast the heath wore the appearance of an instalment of night which had taken up its place before its astronomical hour was come : darkness had to a great extent arrived hereon , while day stood distinct in the sky . Looking upwards , a furze-cutter would have been inclined to continue work ; looking down , he would have decided to finish his faggot and go home . The distant rims of the world and of the firmament seemed to be a division in time no less than a division in matter . The face of the heath by its mere complexion added half an hour to evening ; it could in like manner retard the dawn , sadden noon , anticipate the frowning of storms scarcely generated , and intensify the opacity of a moonless midnight to a cause of shaking and dread . In fact , precisely at this transitional point of its nightly roll into darkness the great and particular glory of the Egdon waste began , and nobody could be said to understand the heath who had not been there at such a time . It could best be felt when it could not clearly be seen , its complete effect and explanation lying in this and the succeeding hours before the next dawn ; then , and only then , did it tell its true tale . The spot was , indeed , a near relation of night , and when night showed itself an apparent tendency to gravitate together could be perceived in its shades and the scene .