a quarter to ten
I discovered later that he had not paid either of them wages for some years past , and that they only stayed on with him because they were too poor and proud to seek shelter elsewhere . When we had inspected the house we left it by a side door , and crossed a courtyard to the stables . There the desolation was , perhaps , even more marked than in the house . The great clock on the tower above the main building had stopped at a quarter to ten on some long-forgotten day , and a spider now ran his web from hand to hand . At our feet , between the stones , grass grew luxuriantly , thick moss covered the coping of the well , the doors were almost off their hinges , and rats scuttled through the empty loose boxes at our approach . So large was the place , that thirty horses might have found a lodging comfortably , and as far as I could gather , there was room for half as many vehicles in the coach-houses that stood on either side . The intense quiet was only broken by the cawing of the rooks in the giant elms overhead , the squeaking of the rats , and the low grumbling of my uncle 's voice as he pointed out the ruin that was creeping over everything .