ten o'clock
And through the drawing room window Mrs. Barraclough saw the unusual spectacle of a clergyman running like fury in the direction of the railway station . As she remarked a few moments later : `` This is indeed an age of speed . Even the delivery of the Gospel is conducted by express service . '' The train which conveyed Mr. Harrison Smith back to London stopped at every intermediate station and did not arrive until after ten o'clock . He , therefore , was given leisure for thought and the result of his thinking was to bring him perilously near the truth . He began with the premise that somehow Anthony Barraclough had succeeded in making good his escape -- that he was even now obtaining the concession -- that he would return to London on the night of the 18th instant at eleven o'clock in all probability carrying the document upon his person . All this was plain sailing but against it was the established fact that Anthony Barraclough was imprisoned in Laurence 's house .