midday
They kept up the chorus of the song which was being sung elsewhere , and they suited their rolling gait to the measure . `` For it ai n't Maria , '' came the tender melody ; and the reassuring phrase was repeated a dozen times . Then by ill-luck they caught sight of the astonished Alice , and dropping their musical efforts they hailed her familiarly . Clearly they were the stragglers of some picnic from the town , the engaging type of gentleman who on such occasions is drunk by midday . They were dressed in ill-fitting Sunday clothes , great flowers beamed from their button-holes , and after the fashion of their kind their waistcoats were unbuttoned for comfort . The girl tried to go back by the way she had come , but to her horror she found that she was intercepted . The three gentlemen commanded her retreat .