five o'clock
asked the Professor . `` For him ! '' We were silent for a minute , and then Quincey said : -- `` There 's nothing to do but to wait here . If , however , he does n't turn up by five o'clock , we must start off ; for it wo n't do to leave Mrs. Harker alone after sunset . '' `` He will be here before long now , '' said Van Helsing , who had been consulting his pocket-book . '' _ Nota bene _ , in Madam 's telegram he went south from Carfax , that means he went to cross the river , and he could only do so at slack of tide , which should be something before one o'clock . That he went south has a meaning for us .