five minutes past five
`` But so like him , '' observed his daughter . `` And he has made us late for tea . What a stupid fellow ! '' It was exactly five minutes past five when they reached St. James 's Square . The sun , a globe , set in thin lines of yellow light , shone out above the trees , which were dull but not yet leafless . Grey and sulphurous and gold-edged clouds floated in masses on the blue sky . It had been a day of changes -- yet it seemed to Sara , whose own moods had been as various , the ordinary passing away of time .