ten minutes to four
It was too much for him ! Of course he had read of female accomplices , but it did n't seem that a four-year-old child could be a part of the game ! For the first time he wondered whether `` A. L. M. , '' perhaps chagrined at his failure to decoy Tom to some secret lair , had deceived him about `` Four-Fingered Phillips '' ! Then it was ten minutes to four , good measure , and Tom , in a sudden panic , seized his bags , gazed about him despairingly and made for the train-shed . He had given Steve fair warning , he told himself , and now he could just fend for himself . But his steps got slower and slower as he approached the gate and when he reached it he set the bags down , got his ticket out and waited . After all , it would be a pretty mean trick to leave Steve .