five o'clock
Some -- probably most -- declared it was very plain what it meant ; while others , -- the few , -- after much argument , confessed themselves quite mystified . The police , too , were not idle . They made inquiries and took notes here and there . They discovered that the five o'clock train made but two pauses on its journey to London -- at Croydon and at Clapham Junction . At neither of those places could a man in a fur coat be heard of as having descended from the train ; and yet it was manifest that he did not arrive at Grosvenor Road , where tickets were taken . After persistent and wider inquiries , however , at Clapham Junction -LRB- which was the most likely point of departure -RRB- , a cabman was found who remembered having taken up a fare -- a gentleman in a fur coat -- about the hour indicated . He particularly remarked the gentleman , because he looked odd and foreign and half tipsy -LRB- that was how he seemed to him -RRB- , because he was wrapped up `` enough for Father Christmas , '' and because he asked to be driven such a long way -- to a well-known hotel near the Crystal Palace , where `` foreign gents '' were fond of staying .