twelve o'clock
It fell out as Nino had anticipated , and when he told me all the details , some time afterwards , it struck me that he had shown an uncommon degree of intelligence in predicting that the old count would ride alone that day . He had , indeed , so made his arrangements that even if the whole party had come out together nothing worse would have occurred than a postponement of the interview he sought . But he was destined to get what he wanted that very day , namely , an opportunity of speaking with Von Lira alone . It was twelve o'clock when he left me , and the mid-day bell was ringing from the church , while the people bustled about getting their food . Every old woman had a piece of corn cake , and the ragged children got what they could , gathering the crumbs in their mothers ' aprons . A few rough fellows who were not away at work in the valley munched the maize bread with a leek and a bit of salt fish , and some of them had oil on it . Our mountain people eat scarcely anything else , unless it be a little meat on holidays , or an egg when the hens are laying .