half past ten
WANTED : Young Man of good appearance , who is poor and reckless , to undertake a delicate and dangerous enterprise . Good pay for the right man . Apply between the hours of ten and twelve at offices of Mainprice , Mainprice & Boole , 3 , Denvers Street , Strand . And as he read it , half past ten struck on the little clock on his mantelpiece . It was probably this fact that decided Ashe . If he had been compelled to postpone his visit to the offices of Messrs. Mainprice , Mainprice & Boole until the afternoon , it is possible that barriers of laziness might have reared themselves in the path of adventure ; for Ashe , an adventurer at heart , was also uncommonly lazy . As it was , however , he could make an immediate start .