three o'clock
`` Good idea , '' said Bailey . `` Let 's talk it over with Mason and Turner and Jewett , and see if we ca n't stir Mann up a bit . '' The two men had been lunching together at the club , with a little talk afterwards , while they smoked their cigars in the lazy summer atmosphere of the well-kept garden . `` Well , here it is three o'clock , '' added Bailey ; `` and I have an appointment at a quarter-past . So long . '' `` I must be going , too ; '' and Allingham followed , walking down street as far as his office . Once there , he hung up his hat , changed his coat for a thinner one , and sat down to his desk , whereupon a pile of letters lay unopened .