about four o'clock in the afternoon
He found a rough track , and presently the sky began to clear . Pale-blue patches opened in the thinning clouds , and gleams of sunshine , chased by shadow , touched the moor . Where they fell the brown heath turned red and withered fern glowed fiery yellow . The green road , cropped smooth by sheep and crossed by rills of water , swung sharply up and down , but at length it began a steady descent , and about four o'clock in the afternoon Foster stopped in the bottom of a deep glen . A few rushy fields occupied the hollow and a house stood in the shelter of a thin fir wood . It had mullioned windows and a porch with pillars , but looked old , and the walls were speckled with lichens . A garden stretched about it , and looking in through the iron rails , Foster saw gnarled fruit trees fringed with moss .