five o'clock
Would Charteris come in and wait ? Charteris rather thought he would . He waited for half an hour , and then , as the absent medico did not appear to be coming , took two books from the shelf , wrote a succinct note explaining what he had done , and why he had done it , hoping the doctor would not mind , and went out with his literary trophies into the High Street again . The time was now close on five o'clock . Lock-up was not till a quarter past six -- six o'clock nominally , but the doors were always left open till a quarter past . It would take him about fifteen minutes to get back , less if he trotted . Obviously , the thing to do here was to spend a thoughtful quarter of an hour or so inspecting the sights of the town .