four
minutes to twelve
`` I will be wanting to know , '' said Dunbar , `` where you were coming from , to-night ? '' `` From the House of Commons . '' `` You came direct ? '' `` I left Sir Brian Malpas at the corner of Victoria Street at four minutes to twelve by Big Ben , and walked straight home , actually entering here , from the street , as the clock was chiming the last stroke of midnight . '' `` Then you would have walked up the street from an easterly direction ? '' `` Certainly . '' `` Did you meet any one or anything ? ''