five minutes past five
said Somerset . ` To think I should be served this trick a second time ! ' After a moment 's pause , however , he looked to see the time of day . It was five minutes past five -- just about the hour when Paula would be driving from Markton Station to Stancy Castle to rest and prepare herself for her evening triumph . There was a train at six o'clock , timed to reach Markton between eleven and twelve , which by great exertion he might save even now , if it were worth while to undertake such a scramble for the pleasure of dropping in to the ball at a late hour . A moment 's vision of Paula moving to swift tunes on the arm of a person or persons unknown was enough to impart the impetus required . He jumped up , flung his dress clothes into a portmanteau , sent down to call a cab , and in a few minutes was rattling off to the railway which had borne Paula away from London just five hours earlier .