about nine o'clock
`` Oh , well , that 's all right , then . I dare say there is very little likelihood of our man getting in whilst you and Sir Horace are here , and taking such a risk as stopping in the house until nightfall to begin his operations . Still , it was hardly wise , and I should advise hurrying back as fast as possible and taking at least one servant -- the one you feel least likely to lose his head -- into your confidence , Sir Horace , and putting him on the watch for my men . Otherwise , keep the matter as quiet as you have done , and look for me about nine o'clock . And rely upon this as a certainty : the Vanishing Cracksman will never get away with even one of those jewels if he enters that house to-night , and never get out of it unshackled ! '' With that , he suavely bowed his visitors out and rang up the pick of his men without an instant 's delay . Promptly at nine o'clock he arrived , as he had promised , at Wyvern House , and was shown into Sir Horace 's consulting-room , where Sir Horace himself and Miss Lorne were awaiting him , and keeping close watch before the locked door of a communicating apartment in which sat the six men who had preceded him .