two o'clock
One of those great sleek mules , if good-tempered , will tire three horses , and never feel the worse for it . He therefore let the beast go her own pace along the road to Trevi , winding by the brink of the rushing torrent : sometimes beneath great overhanging cliffs , sometimes through bits of cultivated land , where the valley widens ; and now and then passing under some beech-trees , still naked and skeleton-like in the bright March air . But Nino rode many miles , as he thought , without meeting the count , dangling his feet out of the stirrups , and humming snatches of song to himself to pass the time . He looked at his watch , -- a beautiful gold one , given him by a very great personage in Paris , -- and it was half-past two o'clock . Then , to avoid tiring his mule , he got off and sat by a tree , at a place where he could see far along the road . But three o'clock came , and a quarter past , and he began to fear that the count had gone all the way to Trevi . Indeed , Trevi could not be very far off , he thought .