three
o'clock
But she was well aware that she had a reputation for unpunctuality . Ordinarily , being too hurried to invent a really clever excuse , she would assert lightly that something had happened to her carriage . And now something in truth had happened to her carriage -- but who would believe it at the Police Institute ? `` If you 'll come with me I 'll guarantee to get you there by three o'clock , '' said Denry . The road thereabouts was lonely . A canal ran parallel with it at a distance of fifty yards , and on the canal a boat was moving in the direction of Hanbridge at the rate of a mile an hour . Such was the only other vehicle in sight .