five
minutes to six
It was the night of August 30 . A month had passed since the ball at Lennon House , but the uneventful country-side of Donegal was still busy with the stimulating topic of Harry Feversham 's disappearance . The townsmen in the climbing street and the gentry at their dinner-tables gossiped to their hearts ' contentment . It was asserted that Harry Feversham had been seen on the very morning after the dance , and at five minutes to six -- though according to Mrs. Brien O'Brien it was ten minutes past the hour -- still in his dress clothes and with a white suicide 's face , hurrying along the causeway by the Lennon Bridge . It was suggested that a drag-net would be the only way to solve the mystery . Mr. Dennis Rafferty , who lived on the road to Rathmullen , indeed , went so far as to refuse salmon on the plea that he was not a cannibal , and the saying had a general vogue . Their conjectures as to the cause of the disappearance were no nearer to the truth .