Five minutes to seven
`` Three , seven , ace '' were perpetually running through his head , and continually being repeated by his lips . If he saw a young girl , he would say : `` How slender she is ; quite like the three of hearts . '' If anybody asked `` What is the time ? '' he would reply : `` Five minutes to seven . '' Every stout man that he saw reminded him of the ace . `` Three , seven , ace '' haunted him in his sleep , and assumed all possible shapes . The threes bloomed before him in the forms of magnificent flowers , the sevens were represented by Gothic portals , and the aces became transformed into gigantic spiders .