seventeen minutes past eighteen o'clock
Monsieur departed with the more haste since he was unable to repay this courtesy with the most trifling purchase ; such slight matters annoyed Kirkwood intensely . Perhaps it was well for him that he had the long walk to help him work off the fit of nervous exasperation into which he was plunged every time his thoughts harked back to that jovial black-guard , Stryker ... . He was quite calm when , after a brisk walk of some fifteen minutes , he reached the station . A public clock reassured him with the information that he had the quarter of an hour 's leeway ; it was only seventeen minutes past eighteen o'clock -LRB- Belgian railway time , always confusing -RRB- . Inquiring his way to the Amsterdam train , which was already waiting at the platform , he paced its length , peering brazenly in at the coach windows , now warm with hope , now shivering with disappointment , realizing as he could not but realize that , all else aside , his only chance of rehabilitation lay in meeting Calendar . But in none of the coaches or carriages did he discover any one even remotely resembling the fat adventurer , his daughter , or Mulready . Satisfied that they had not yet boarded the train , he stood aside , tortured with forebodings , while anxiously scrutinizing each individual of the throng of intending travelers ... .