five o'clock
Now you mention it , I _ do _ hear it ! It 's a good couple o ' miles off , though , that is ! '' Mr Cowlishaw closed his door . At five o'clock , when he had nearly , but not quite , forgotten the sighing , his lifelong friend , the oval-wheeled electric car , bumped and quaked through the street , and the ewer and basin chattered together busily , and the seismic phenomena definitely recommenced . The night was still black , but the industrial day had dawned in the Five Towns . Long series of carts without springs began to jolt past under the window of Mr Cowlishaw , and then there was a regular multitudinous clacking of clogs and boots on the pavement . A little later the air was rent by first one steam-whistle , and then another , and then another , in divers tones announcing that it was six o'clock , or five minutes past , or half-past , or anything .