About five minutes to five
` Very likely , ' replied Philpot , ` I should think ' e can do 'em cheaper even than us chaps , and that 's all the firm cares about . ' How far their conjectures were fulfilled will appear later . Shortly after Bert was gone it became so dark that it was necessary to light the candles , and Philpot remarked that although he hated working under such conditions , yet he was always glad when lighting up time came , because then knocking off time was not very far behind . About five minutes to five , just as they were all putting their things away for the night , Nimrod suddenly appeared in the house . He had come hoping to find some of them ready dressed to go home before the proper time . Having failed in this laudable enterprise , he stood silently by himself for some seconds in the drawing-room . This was a spacious and lofty apartment with a large semicircular bay window .