about a quarter past nine
Tell me all ; tell me how it was that my poor friend was saved . '' `` I was at work up at Atkinson 's farm , last September , '' said Luke Marks , `` helping to stack the last of the corn , and as the nighest way from the farm to mother 's cottage was through the meadows at the back of the Court , I used to come that way , and Phoebe used to stand in the garden wall beyond the lime-walk sometimes , to have a chat with me , knowin ' my time o ' comin ' home . `` I do n't know what Phoebe was a-doin ' upon the evenin ' of the seventh o ' September -- I rek ` lect the date because Farmer Atkinson paid me my wages all of a lump on that day , and I 'd had to sign a bit of a receipt for the money he give me -- I do n't know what she was a-doin ' , but she war n't at the gate agen the lime-walk , so I went round to the other side o ' the gardens and jumped across the dry ditch , for I wanted partic ` ler to see her that night , as I was goin ' away to work upon a farm beyond Chelmsford the next day . Audley church clock struck nine as I was crossin ' the meadows between Atkinson 's and the Court , and it must have been about a quarter past nine when I got into the kitchen garden . `` I crossed the garden , and went into the lime-walk ; the nighest way to the servants ' hall took me through the shrubbery and past the dry well . It was a dark night , but I knew my way well enough about the old place , and the light in the window of the servants ' hall looked red and comfortable through the darkness . I was close against the mouth of the dry well when I heard a sound that made my blood creep .