about noon
Your mother and I have our gossip to get over . ' There was something so commanding in the kindliness of the stranger 's manner and voice that I made no hesitation about obeying him ; so I promptly rose and made for the shop , drawing close the door of the parlour behind me . I stood awhile at the outer door , looking listlessly into the street , and wondering what the blue gentleman could have to say to my mother and to me . Even now I can recall the whole scene distinctly , the windy High Street , with its gleams of broken sunlight on the drying cobbles -- for it had rained a little about noon , and the black clouds were only now sailing away towards the west and leaving blue and white sky behind them . I can see again the signs and names of the shops opposite , can even recall noting a girl leaning out of a window and a birdcage in an attic . When the door of the parlour behind me opened for the blue-coated gentleman I noted that my mother stood with a pale face and her hands folded . He beckoned me to him and clapped his hand on my shoulder , and though he laid it there gentle enough , I felt that it could be as heavy as the paw of a bear .