a quarter after nine
The dinner passed off without excitement , except for the Earl 's rising and proposing the health of Hemlock Holmes , which was responded to enthusiastically by all present except Letstrayed , who insisted on saying `` we '' instead of `` you '' when speaking to Holmes about the credit for the recovery of the gems . After dinner we adjourned to the music room , where the Countess Annabelle entertained us as on the evening before , playing a number of selections on the piano , including one little song entitled , `` Once I Loved A Spanish Maid , '' which she repeated a couple of times with the evident purpose of kidding her uncle about his forthcoming marriage with her maid Teresa . The next morning dawned bright and clear , with the sun shining warmly , and after breakfast we took a walk around the lawn in the rear of the castle , where Holmes claimed that intuition told him that Billie Budd would appear . It got around to a quarter after nine , and while we were chinning with Blumenroth the gardener and Yensen the coachman , I noticed a farmer dressed in a suit of blue overalls and a wide-brimmed straw hat come strolling along the graveled driveway that led back to the stables . He was a harmless-looking fellow , with bushy gray whiskers and old-fashioned spectacles , and he came up and addressed us in a somewhat squeaky voice , which aroused Holmes 's suspicions at once . `` I say , gentlemen , could you tell me who has charge of His Lordship 's hay in the stables ? My name is Samuel Simmons , a farmer down the road a piece , and I would like to buy a ton or two of his hay , if he does n't want too much for it . ''