fourteen minutes past four
But do go into the front room , at any rate . '' And there he was in the middle room , the kitchen , listening to her movements behind the door . He heard the running of water , and then the mild explosion of lighting the second ring of the gas-stove ; the first had been lighted by Mrs. Butt . Then he heard nothing whatever for years , and when he looked at the clock it was fourteen minutes past four . In the act of looking at the clock , his eye had to traverse the region of the sofa . On the sofa were one parasol and two gloves . Astonishing , singular , disconcerting , how those articles -- which , after all , bore no kind of resemblance to any style of furniture or hangings -- seemed , nevertheless , to refurnish the room , to give the room an air of being thickly inhabited which it never had before !