three
o'clock
You arrive at Victoria Park Station ; you turn immediately to the right and follow the pavement down , with the park on your left , until you come to the archway where the road unites with that coming from Homerton . One is absolutely safe , therefore , assuming that one has not to deal with watchful criminals , in standing under the arch with the certitude that sooner or later , if you wait long enough , the man whom you expect to enter Hackney Wick will pass within ten yards of you . Mr. Parham-Carter , of course , knew this perfectly well , and had , finally , communicated the fact to the other two quite early in the afternoon . An elaborate system of watches , therefore , had been arranged , by which one of the three had been on guard continuously since three o'clock . It was Jack who had had the privilege -LRB- if he had but known it -RRB- of observing Mr. Partington himself returning home to his family for Christmas , and it was Dick , who came on guard about five , who had seen the Major -- or , rather , what was to him merely a shabby and excited man -- leave and then return to the `` Queen 's Arms '' during his hour 's watch . * * * * * After the amazing and shocking news , however , of the accident to Lord Talgarth and Archie , the precautions had been doubled . It was the clergyman who had first bought an evening paper soon after five o'clock , and within five minutes the other two knew it also .