five minutes past noon
I cried , waving him off . `` What time is it ? '' He stepped back , no doubt thinking me mad . Some one spoke up and said it was five minutes past noon . I had the grace to thank him , I believe . To my astonishment I had been gone but four minutes ; they had seemed twenty . Looking about me , I found I was in the open space before old Kensington Church , over against the archway there .