a quarter to five
`` Thank you , '' replied Thorndyke , `` I think we had ; '' and , with a pleasant nod at the custodian , he proceeded to adopt the hospitable suggestion . * * * * * `` Mr. Marchmont has been here , sir , with Inspector Badger and another gentleman , '' said Polton , as we entered our chambers . `` They said they would call again about five . '' `` Then , '' replied Thorndyke , `` as it is now a quarter to five , there is just time for us to have a wash while you get the tea ready . The particles that float in the atmosphere of Limehouse are not all mother-of-pearl . '' Our visitors arrived punctually , the third gentleman being , as we had supposed , Mr. Solomon Löwe . Inspector Badger I had not seen before , and he now impressed me as showing a tendency to invert the significance of his own name by endeavouring to `` draw '' Thorndyke ; in which , however , he was not brilliantly successful .