six
o'clock
`` Rear door of pawnshop opens into hall , and exactly opposite very short flight of stairs leading directly to doorway of Isaac 's den above . Ramshackle old place , low ceilings . Isaac , when sitting in his den , can look down , and , by means of a transom over the rear door of the shop , see the customers as they enter from the street , while he also keeps an eye on his assistant . Latter always locks up and leaves promptly at six o'clock -- '' Jimmie Dale was subconsciously repeating to himself snatches from the Tocsin 's letter , which , as subconsciously in reading , he had memorised almost word for word . And now voices reached him -- one , excited , nervous , as though the speaker were labouring under mental strain that bordered closely on the hysterical ; the other , curiously mingling a querulousness with an attempt to pacify , but dominantly contemptuous , sneering , cold . Jimmie Dale moved along the hall -- very slowly -- without a sound -- testing each step before he threw his body weight from one leg to the other . He reached the foot of the stairs .