a quarter past five o’clock
Tim Linkinwater , sir , take care of Mr. Nickleby at half-past five . Now , brother Ned . ' Chattering away thus , according to custom , to prevent the possibility of any thanks or acknowledgment being expressed on the other side , the twins trotted off , arm-in-arm ; having endowed Tim Linkinwater with a costly gold snuff-box , enclosing a bank note worth more than its value ten times told . At a quarter past five o'clock , punctual to the minute , arrived , according to annual usage , Tim Linkinwater 's sister ; and a great to-do there was , between Tim Linkinwater 's sister and the old housekeeper , respecting Tim Linkinwater 's sister 's cap , which had been dispatched , per boy , from the house of the family where Tim Linkinwater 's sister boarded , and had not yet come to hand : notwithstanding that it had been packed up in a bandbox , and the bandbox in a handkerchief , and the handkerchief tied on to the boy 's arm ; and notwithstanding , too , that the place of its consignment had been duly set forth , at full length , on the back of an old letter , and the boy enjoined , under pain of divers horrible penalties , the full extent of which the eye of man could not foresee , to deliver the same with all possible speed , and not to loiter by the way . Tim Linkinwater 's sister lamented ; the housekeeper condoled ; and both kept thrusting their heads out of the second-floor window to see if the boy was ` coming ' -- which would have been highly satisfactory , and , upon the whole , tantamount to his being come , as the distance to the corner was not quite five yards -- when , all of a sudden , and when he was least expected , the messenger , carrying the bandbox with elaborate caution , appeared in an exactly opposite direction , puffing and panting for breath , and flushed with recent exercise ; as well he might be ; for he had taken the air , in the first instance , behind a hackney coach that went to Camberwell , and had followed two Punches afterwards and had seen the Stilts home to their own door . The cap was all safe , however -- that was one comfort -- and it was no use scolding him -- that was another ; so the boy went upon his way rejoicing , and Tim Linkinwater 's sister presented herself to the company below-stairs , just five minutes after the half-hour had struck by Tim Linkinwater 's own infallible clock . The company consisted of the brothers Cheeryble , Tim Linkinwater , a ruddy-faced white-headed friend of Tim 's -LRB- who was a superannuated bank clerk -RRB- , and Nicholas , who was presented to Tim Linkinwater 's sister with much gravity and solemnity .