about thirty-seven minutes past six o'clock
I heard Pinto say those very words , and sitting on the porcelain stool I saw , dimly at first , then with an awful distinctness -- a ghost -- an EIDOLON -- a form -- A HEADLESS MAN seated with his head in his lap , which wore an expression of piteous surprise . At this minute , Mr. Gale entered from the front shop to show a customer some Delft plates ; and he did not see -- but WE DID -- the figure rise up from the porcelain stool , shake its head , which it held in its hand , and which kept its eyes fixed sadly on us , and disappear behind the guillotine . `` Come to the ` Gray 's - Inn Coffee-House , ' '' Pinto said , `` and I will tell you how the notch came to the ax . '' And we walked down Holborn at about thirty-seven minutes past six o'clock . If there is anything in the above statement which astonishes the reader , I promise him that in the next chapter of this little story he will be astonished still more . `` You will excuse me , '' I said to my companion , `` for remarking that when you addressed the individual sitting on the porcelain stool , with his head in his lap , your ordinarily benevolent features '' -- -LRB- this I confess was a bouncer , for between ourselves a more sinister and ill-looking rascal than Mons . P. I have seldom set eyes on -RRB- -- `` your ordinarily handsome face wore an expression that was by no means pleasing .