About nine o'clock
Most of the village people were in favor of having her retained , but the local influence of Squire Walsingham and his nephew was so great that a petition in favor of the latter secured numerous signatures , and was already on file at the department in Washington , and backed by the congressman of the district , who was a political friend of the squire . Mrs. Carr was not aware that the movement for her displacement had gone so far . It was already nine o'clock when Herbert 's conversation with his mother ended , and he resolved to defer his call upon Squire Walsingham till the next morning . About nine o'clock in the forenoon our young hero rang the bell of the village magnate , and with but little delay was ushered into his presence . Squire Walsingham was a tall , portly man of fifty , sleek and evidently on excellent terms with himself . Indeed , he was but five years older than his nephew , Ebenezer Graham , and looked the younger of the two , despite the relationship . If he had been a United States Senator he could not have been more dignified in his deportment , or esteemed himself of greater consequence .