a quarter
before nine p.m.
`` We will trust your word , as a gentleman of honour . '' `` You do not forget when you are due in London again ? '' asked Stuart . `` In eighty days ; on Saturday , the 21st of December , 1872 , at a quarter before nine p.m. Good-bye , gentlemen . '' Phileas Fogg and his servant seated themselves in a first-class carriage at twenty minutes before nine ; five minutes later the whistle screamed , and the train slowly glided out of the station . The night was dark , and a fine , steady rain was falling . Phileas Fogg , snugly ensconced in his corner , did not open his lips .