about one o'clock in the morning
There are small windows on each side , which were covered by curtains and never opened . One of these windows was turned towards the high road , and when the light burned in it at night the folk used to point it out to each other and wonder what Black Peter was doing in there . That 's the window , Mr. Holmes , which gave us one of the few bits of positive evidence that came out at the inquest . `` You remember that a stonemason , named Slater , walking from Forest Row about one o'clock in the morning -- two days before the murder -- stopped as he passed the grounds and looked at the square of light still shining among the trees . He swears that the shadow of a man 's head turned sideways was clearly visible on the blind , and that this shadow was certainly not that of Peter Carey , whom he knew well . It was that of a bearded man , but the beard was short and bristled forwards in a way very different from that of the captain . So he says , but he had been two hours in the public-house , and it is some distance from the road to the window .