about five o'clock in the afternoon
Hillyard had thus a week in which to resume his friendships , arrange to write , at some distant time , a play , revisit his club and his tailor , and revel , as at a pageant , in the fresh beauty , the summer clothes , the white skin and clean-limbed boyishness of English girls . He went through , in a word , the first experiences of most men returned from a long sojourn in other climes ; and they were ordinary enough . But the week was made notable for him by one small incident . It was on the Monday and about five o'clock in the afternoon . He was walking from the Charing Cross Road towards Leicester Square , when , from a doorway ahead of him , a couple emerged . They did not turn his way but preceded him , so that he only saw their backs . But he had no doubt who one of the couple was .