one o'clock
What would they think if workin ' men ud coom meddlin ' wi ' theer lasses ? I wish I 'd had more toime to see th ' wench 's face . '' CHAPTER XXIV - Dan Lowrie 's Return Not a pleasant road to travel at any time -- the high road to Riggan , it was certainly at its worst to-night . Between twelve and one o'clock , the rain which had been pouring down steadily with true English pertinacity for two days , was gradually passing into a drizzle still more unpleasant , -- a drizzle that soaked into the already soaked clay , that made the mud more slippery , that penetrated a man 's clothing and beat softly but irritatingly against his face , and dripped from his hair and hat down upon his neck , however well he might imagine himself protected by his outside wrappings . But , if he was a common traveller -- a rough tramp or laborer , who was not protected from it at all , it could not fail to annoy him still more , and consequently to affect his temper . At the hour I have named , such a traveller was making his way through the mire and drizzle toward Riggan , -- a tramp in mud-splashed corduroy and with the regulation handkerchief bundle tied to the thick stick which he carried over his shoulder . `` Dom th ' rain ; -- dom th ' road , '' he said .