about a quarter to ten
`` Usually , the dome of an observatory swings on a specially contrived axis , but that is a very expensive structure , so my telescope is governed by a clockwork attachment and moves on its own axis . '' Mr. Fowler nodded . He was really a very well informed man for a country police-officer ; he understood clearly . `` Miss Martin came here about a quarter to ten , '' continued Grant , `` and left within three-quarters of an hour . She did not enter the house . She was watching Sirius while I explained the methods whereby the distance of any star from the earth is computed and its chemical analysis determined -- '' `` Most instructive , I 'm sure , '' put in the superintendent . He smiled genially , so genially that Grant dismissed the notion that the other might , in vulgar parlance , be pulling his leg .