about half past three
It was a very ordinary sort of an instrument , such as one sees in schools and offices ; it had two hands , and a pendulum of the usual size and length . However , this pendulum was swinging at a very rapid rate ; nearly twice as fast , judged the doctor , as that of his own chronometer . And its dial was divided into twenty-five equal parts , instead of twelve , each of these parts being further divided into five equal portions . At the moment , these two hands indicated what would have been called , on the earth , about half past three . Before the doctor could speculate on this , his unknown agent shifted his gaze to a newspaper on a desk before him . Apparently he was thinking of something entirely different ; for he absently turned the pages , one by one , his subconscious mind taking it all in . And the doctor saw that the paper was called simply The Hourly Journal ; that it was of very nearly the size of most sheets ; and that it consisted of about ten pages .