fifty-five minutes after
twenty-three o'clock
`` Precious little , '' he grumbled . `` I 'd give my head for a Bradshaw ! Only it would n't be a fair exchange ... . There seems to be an express for Bruges leaving the Gare du Nord , Brussels , at fifty-five minutes after twenty-three o'clock ; and if I 'm not mistaken , that 's the latest train out of Brussels and the earliest we can catch , ... if we _ can _ catch it . I 've never been in Brussels , and Heaven only knows how long it would take us to cab it from the Gare du Midi to the Nord . '' In this statement , however , Mr. Kirkwood was fortunately mistaken ; not only Heaven , it appeared , had cognizance of the distance between the two stations . While Kirkwood was still debating the question , with pessimistic tendencies , the friendly guard had occasion to pass through the coach ; and , being tapped , yielded the desired information with entire tractability .