a quarter
to ten o'clock
His lairdship wrote a braw note of acknowledgements to my maister , and gie it me to take away . My laird also gie me a half-sovereign , for mysel ' . I dinna tak ' the note just then to my maister . I saw by the clock on the mantel that it only lacked a quarter to ten o'clock , sae I e ` en made my duty to his lairdship and run down stairs , ran a ' the way o'er to Castle Lone , for I war fain to see the decorations . I got to Malcolm 's Tower just in time to hear the auld clock in the turret strike eleven , and to see the mon and the woman meet thegither in the shadows . '' `` Are you sure that you could not identify that man or woman ? '' `` Anan ? ''