noon
He sat down for a few minutes on the warm grass , giving himself up to the idle pleasure of watching the birds skimming through the clear blue sky , -- the bees bouncing in and out of the buttercups , -- the varicoloured butterflies floating like blown flower-petals on the breeze , -- and he heard a distant bell striking the half-hour after eleven . He had noted the time when leaving the `` Trusty Man , '' otherwise he would not have known it so exactly , having left his watch locked up at home in his private desk with other personal trinkets which would have been superfluous and troublesome to him on his self-imposed journey . When the echo of the bell 's one stroke had died away it left a great stillness in the air . The heat was increasing as the day veered towards noon , and he decided that it would be as well to get on further down the road and under the shadow of the trees , which were not so very far off , and which looked invitingly cool in their spreading dark soft greenness . So , rising from his brief rest , he started again `` on the tramp , '' and soon felt the full glare of the sun , and the hot sensation of the dust about his feet ; but he went on steadily , determining to make light of all the inconveniences and difficulties , to which he was entirely unaccustomed , but to which he had voluntarily exposed himself . For a considerable time he met no living creature ; the highroad seemed to be as much his own as though it were part of a private park or landed estate belonging to him only ; and it was not till he had nearly accomplished the distance which lay between him and the shelter of the trees , that he met a horse and cart slowly jogging along towards the direction from whence he had come . The man who drove the vehicle was half-asleep , stupefied , no doubt , by the effect of the hot sun following on a possible `` glass '' at a public-house , but Helmsley called to him just for company 's sake .