About twelve o'clock
And slipping on her gloves , she hurried off , forbidding Shiel to escort her further . Left to himself , Shiel strolled along the Strand into the Victoria Gardens , where he bought an evening paper , and sat down to read it . The first thing that caught his eye was -- `` MAGIC IN LONDON '' `` This morning the West End received a shock . About twelve o'clock , a gentleman , fashionably dressed , turned into Bond Street from Piccadilly , and when opposite Messrs. Truefitt 's prepared to cross over . The street happened just then to be blocked by a long line of taxis . The gentleman , however , had no intention of waiting till they had passed . Measuring the distance from one pavement to the other with his eyes , he jumped about fifteen feet into the air and cleared the intervening space without the slightest apparent effort -- a feat that literally paralysed with astonishment all who beheld it .