three
o'clock
And the Institute also conferred other benefits on those whom all the five Mayors of the Five Towns fell into the way of describing as `` the stalwart guardians of the law . '' The Institute , having been built , had to be opened with due splendour and ceremony . And naturally the Countess of Chell was the person to open it , since without her it would never have existed . The solemn day was a day in March , and the hour was fixed for three o'clock , and the place was the large hall of the Institute itself , behind Crown Square , which is the Trafalgar Square of Hanbridge . The Countess was to drive over from Sneyd . Had the epoch been ten years later she would have motored over . But probably that would not have made any difference to what happened .