midnight
A slight smile appeared on the faces of most of those present . All men knew the reason why the mountain General did not like the Secretary , but no one ventured upon a teasing remark . The great black-haired cavalryman , sitting there , trimming off pine shavings with a razor-edged bowie-knife , seemed the last man in the world to be made the subject of a jest . Prescott left at midnight , but he did not reach home until an hour later , having done an errand in the meanwhile . In the course of the day he had marked a circumstance of great interest and importance . Frame houses when old and as lightly built as that in the little side street are likely to sag somewhere . Now , at a certain spot the front door of this house failed to meet the floor by at least an eighth of an inch , and Prescott proposed to take advantage of the difference .