five in the afternoon
` Very , ' said Manston . ` Well , I suppose we had better step along a little quicker , Mr. Springrove ; the parson 's bell has just begun . ' ` Number forty-nine , ' he murmured . Edward received Owen 's letter in due time , but on account of his daily engagements he could not attend to any request till the clock had struck five in the afternoon . Rushing then from his office in Westminster , he called a hansom and proceeded to Hoxton . A few minutes later he knocked at the door of number forty-one , Charles Square , the old lodging of Mrs. Manston . A tall man who would have looked extremely handsome had he not been clumsily and closely wrapped up in garments that were much too elderly in style for his years , stood at the corner of the quiet square at the same instant , having , too , alighted from a cab , that had been driven along Old Street in Edward 's rear .