three o'clock
`` Dolt and pumpkin-head ! How could that wretched creature be my Rose ? '' How , indeed , when at that moment the Rose of Sharon in the ruined hut was lapping milk taken her by George in a lemonade bottle , her infamous captor smoking on the threshold ? Precisely at three o'clock Mr. David Brunger arrived . Conducted to the room whence the Rose had disappeared , the astute inquiry agent was there closeted with Mr. Marrapit for half an hour . At the end of that time Mr. Marrapit appeared on the lawn . His face was white , his voice , when he spoke , hollow and trembling .