five minutes to eleven
Between Thursday morning and Saturday night the Rev. Augustus , much to his own astonishment , had been forced to the conclusion that five-sixths of his parishioners had loved him from the first without hitherto having had opportunity of expressing their real feelings . The eventful Sunday arrived . The Rev. Augustus Cracklethorpe had been kept so busy listening to regrets at his departure , assurances of an esteem hitherto disguised from him , explanations of seeming discourtesies that had been intended as tokens of affectionate regard , that no time had been left to him to think of other matters . Not till he entered the vestry at five minutes to eleven did recollection of his farewell sermon come to him . It haunted him throughout the service . To deliver it after the revelations of the last three days would be impossible . It was the sermon that Moses might have preached to Pharaoh the Sunday prior to the exodus .