ten o'clock
But the spirit of prophecy was upon him . `` To judge by to-day 's forecast , I think we shall see Frida back again before the fine weather . '' Whereupon Durant smiled and Miss Chatterton laughed , which gave him an agreeable sense of being witty as well as prophetic . By ten o'clock the hand of the barometer had crept far past `` Change '' ; by noon it had swung violently to `` Stormy , with much rain '' ; by lunchtime a constrained and awkward dialogue was broken by the rude voice of the thunder . The Colonel took out his watch , timed the thunder and lightning , and calculated the approaches of the storm . `` Seven miles away from us at present , '' said he . It hung so low that the growling and groaning seemed to come from the woods round Coton Manor ; the landscape darkened to a metallic purplish green , then paled to the livid color of jade under a sallow sky .