nearly six o'clock
He must tramp the roads again -- the hard roads , the glaring sun , cold moon -- always going on , always alone -- He shouldered his bag and went out ... . BOOK III -- THE ROUNDABOUT Burnished clouds -- swollen with golden light and soft and changing in their outline -- were sailing , against a pale green autumn evening sky , over Chelsea . It was nearly six o'clock and at the Knightsbridge end of Sloane Street a cloud of black towers quivered against the pale green . The yellow light that the golden clouds shed upon the earth bathed the neat and demure houses of Sloane Street in a brief bewildered unreality . Sloane Street , not accustomed to unreality , regretted amiably and with its gentle smile that Nature should insist , once every day , for some half-hour or so , on these mists and enchantments . The neat little houses called their masters and mistresses within doors and advised them to rest before dressing for dinner and so insured these many comfortable souls that they should not be disturbed by any unwelcome violence on their emotions .