five minutes past eight in the
evening
The players rose from their seats . At the fifty-seventh second the door of the saloon opened ; and the pendulum had not beat the sixtieth second when Phileas Fogg appeared , followed by an excited crowd who had forced their way through the club doors , and in his calm voice , said , `` Here I am , gentlemen ! '' Yes ; Phileas Fogg in person . The reader will remember that at five minutes past eight in the evening -- about five and twenty hours after the arrival of the travellers in London -- Passepartout had been sent by his master to engage the services of the Reverend Samuel Wilson in a certain marriage ceremony , which was to take place the next day . Passepartout went on his errand enchanted . He soon reached the clergyman 's house , but found him not at home . Passepartout waited a good twenty minutes , and when he left the reverend gentleman , it was thirty-five minutes past eight .