twenty minutes before twelve on the 21st of December
Neither wished to leave the place ; both were anxious to see Mr. Fogg again . That gentleman was really ruined , and that at the moment when he was about to attain his end . This arrest was fatal . Having arrived at Liverpool at twenty minutes before twelve on the 21st of December , he had till a quarter before nine that evening to reach the Reform Club , that is , nine hours and a quarter ; the journey from Liverpool to London was six hours . If anyone , at this moment , had entered the Custom House , he would have found Mr. Fogg seated , motionless , calm , and without apparent anger , upon a wooden bench . He was not , it is true , resigned ; but this last blow failed to force him into an outward betrayal of any emotion . Was he being devoured by one of those secret rages , all the more terrible because contained , and which only burst forth , with an irresistible force , at the last moment ?