eight o'clock at night
Harrowby Hall was closed , and the heir to the estate was in London , where to him in his chambers came the same experience that his father had gone through , saving only that , being younger and stronger , he survived the shock . Everything in his rooms was ruined -- his clocks were rusted in the works ; a fine collection of water-color drawings was entirely obliterated by the onslaught of the water ghost ; and what was worse , the apartments below his were drenched with the water soaking through the floors , a damage for which he was compelled to pay , and which resulted in his being requested by his landlady to vacate the premises immediately . The story of the visitation inflicted upon his family had gone abroad , and no one could be got to invite him out to any function save afternoon teas and receptions . Fathers of daughters declined to permit him to remain in their houses later than eight o'clock at night , not knowing but that some emergency might arise in the supernatural world which would require the unexpected appearance of the water ghost in this on nights other than Christmas Eve , and before the mystic hour when weary churchyards , ignoring the rules which are supposed to govern polite society , begin to yawn . Nor would the maids themselves have aught to do with him , fearing the destruction by the sudden incursion of aqueous femininity of the costumes which they held most dear . So the heir of Harrowby Hall resolved , as his ancestors for several generations before him had resolved , that something must be done . His first thought was to make one of his servants occupy the haunted room at the crucial moment ; but in this he failed , because the servants themselves knew the history of that room and rebelled .