three o'clock
The trees nodded and whispered , and the windows at the opposite side of the quadrangle glittered like burnished gold in the sunlight . I threw open the jalousies , plucked one of the white roses that clustered outside , and drank in with delight the sunny perfumed air that played among the leaves , and scattered the waters of the fountain . I could not long rest thus , however . I longed to be out and about ; so , as it was now no more than half-past three o'clock , and two good hours of the glorious midsummer afternoon yet remained to me before the hotel dinner-hour , I took my hat , and went out along the quays and streets of this beautiful and ancient Norman city . Under the crumbling archways ; through narrow alleys where the upper stories nearly met overhead , leaving only a bright strip of dazzling sky between ; past quaint old mansions , and sculptured fountains , and stately churches hidden away in all kinds of strange forgotten nooks and corners , I wandered , wondering and unwearied . I saw the statue of Jeanne d'Arc ; the château of Diane de Poitiers ; the archway carved in oak where the founder of the city still , in rude effigy , presides ; the museum rich in mediæval relics ; the market-place crowded with fruit-sellers and flower-girls in their high Norman caps . Above all , I saw the rare old Gothic Cathedral , with its wondrous wealth of antique sculpture ; its iron spire , destined , despite its traceried beauty , to everlasting incompleteness ; its grass-grown buttresses , and crumbling pinnacles , and portals crowded with images of saints and kings .