five o'clock
He pulled out his watch and looked at it . It was three o'clock . `` I think five will do , '' he muttered ; `` it should be all over by that time . '' Another note addressed to Mortimer , asking him to call at the hotel at five o'clock , went forth . The village hotel throbbed with the pressure of unwonted business . The proprietor surmised that a financial matter of huge magnitude was afloat -- another farm was being mortgaged , most like ; more money for Ringwood probably , for had not a buggy gone out there to bring some one in to the great financier . Those race horses were the devil to put a man in a hole .