In substance, her evidence was simply this.

She had looked at her clock, when Mr.Dubourg entered the room; thinking it rather a late hour for a visitor to call on her.

The clock (regulated by the maker, only the day before) pointed to twenty-five minutes to nine.
Practical experiment showed that the time required to walk the distance, at a rapid pace, from the stile to the lady's house, was just five minutes.

Here then was the statement of the farm-bailiff (himself a respectable witness) corroborated by another witness of excellent position and character.

The clock, on being examined next, was found to be right.