midnight
I was alone , and the rooms were dark . For hours I had sat quietly by the table , considering the significant events of the past few days . Sleep was impossible with so many unanswered questions staring into me , and so I sat there wondering . Did Drake actually believe that Margot Vernee 's simple story had been a ruse -- that she had in truth killed her lover on that midnight intrusion of his home ? Did he believe that Michael Strange knew of that intrusion -- that he had possibly planned it himself , and aided her , in order that Margot might be free to return to him ? Did Strange know of that other intrusion , and of the uncanny power which had driven Sir John Harmon , and supposedly driven Margot to that house on After Street ? Those were the questions that still remained without answers : and it was over those questions that I pondered , while my surroundings became darker and more silent as the hour became more advanced .