nine o'clock
As an old man he was picturesque . He must have been very handsome in his youth . It seemed that he was bound for the School of the Sisters of the True Faith , for as he approached its gate , built solidly within the thickness of the high wall , without so much as a crack or crevice through which the curious might peep , he drew rein , and sat motionless on his well-trained horse , listening . The clock at San Fernando immediately vouchsafed the information that it was nine o'clock . There was no one astir , no one on the road before or behind him . Across the narrow canal was a bare field . The convent wall bounded the view on the left hand .