Met Pauline at ten, in distress, third from the end (15)
I believe the answer is:
antepenultimate
'third from the end' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'met pauline at ten in distress' is the wordplay.
'in distress' indicates anagramming the letters.
'met'+'pauline'+'at'+'ten'='metpaulineatten'
'metpaulineatten' with letters rearranged gives 'ANTEPENULTIMATE'.
(Other definitions for antepenultimate that I've seen before include "third from last" , "like this across clue" .)