two o’clock
It was all done inside of three minutes -- at ten minutes to twelve I was back in the car . I got out of the lane as quietly as I could , struck a back road that skirted the village , and let the car out as soon as I was beyond the last houses . I only stopped once on the way in , to drop the beard and ulster into a pond . I had a big stone ready to weight them with and they went down plump , like a dead body -- and at two o'clock I was back at my desk . '' Granice stopped speaking and looked across the smoke-fumes at his listener ; but Denver 's face remained inscrutable . At length he said : `` Why did you want to tell me this ? '' The question startled Granice .