twenty minutes to nine
The marriage day was fixed , the wedding dresses were bought , the wedding tour was planned out , the wedding guests were invited . The day came , but not the bridegroom . He wrote her a letter -- '' `` Which she received , '' I struck in , `` when she was dressing for her marriage ? At twenty minutes to nine ? '' `` At the hour and minute , '' said Herbert , nodding , `` at which she afterwards stopped all the clocks . What was in it , further than that it most heartlessly broke the marriage off , I ca n't tell you , because I do n't know . When she recovered from a bad illness that she had , she laid the whole place waste , as you have seen it , and she has never since looked upon the light of day . ''