ten minutes before ten
`` He took some cats and dogs up with him last night and is trying to get a loan . Going to rain down here to-day , I guess , and somebody 'll get wet . Curb market is steady , but you ca n't tell anything till the Board opens . '' At ten minutes before ten by the clock on the wall Fitz burst into the office , pulled a package from inside his coat , thrust it through the hole in the glass partition , whispered something to a second clerk who had just come in , and who at Fitz 's command grabbed up his hat , and with three plunges was through the doorway and racing down the street . Then Fitz turned and saw us . `` Why , you dear Colonel , where the devil did you come from ? '' The Colonel did not answer .