eight o'clock sharp
`` Well , sir , to begin with , you must understand that I was standing at the corner of Pitt Street an evening or two back , when two men passed me talking earnestly together . One of 'em was a tall strapping fellow , the other a little chap . I never saw two eviller looking rascals in my life . Just as they came alongside me , one says to the other , ` Do n't be afraid ; I 'll have the girl at the station all right at eight o'clock sharp . ' The other said something that I could not catch , and then I lost sight of them . But what I had heard stuck in my head , and so I accordingly went off to the station , arriving there a little before the hour . I had n't been there long before the smallest of the two chaps I 'd seen in the street came on to the platform , and began looking about him .