five o'clock
And he was there , exhausted from fatigue and heat , as if wrecked in the ferns , at a turn of those little , mountain routes which run solitary under oaks . Gracieuse came down and bought a Holy Virgin . `` Later , '' she said to Ramuntcho , `` we shall put it in our house as a souvenir -- '' And the image , dazzling in its gold frame , went with them under the long , green vaults -- They went out of their path , for they wished to pass by a certain valley of the Cherry-trees , not in the hope of finding cherries in it , in April , but to show to Gracieuse the place , which is renowned in the entire Basque country . It was almost five o'clock , the sun was already low , when they reached there . It was a shaded and calm region , where the spring twilight descended like a caress on the magnificence of the April foliage . The air was cool and suave , fragrant with hay , with acacia . Mountains -- very high , especially toward the north , to make the climate there softer , surrounded it on all sides , investing it with a melancholy mystery of closed Edens .