twelve o'clock
The candles were just giving up the ghost in their sockets , but there was light enough to ascertain that the tenant of the room was gone ! The bed had not been disturbed ; the window-shutter was barred . He must have let himself out , and , locking the door on the outside , put the key in his pocket , and so made his way out of the house . Here , however , was another difficulty : the Dragon Volant shut its doors and made all fast at twelve o'clock ; after that hour no one could leave the house , except by obtaining the key and letting himself out , and of necessity leaving the door unsecured , or else by collusion and aid of some person in the house . `` Now it happened that , some time after the doors were secured , at half-past twelve , a servant who had not been apprised of his order to be left undisturbed , seeing a light shine through the key-hole , knocked at the door to inquire whether the poet wanted anything . He was very little obliged to his disturber , and dismissed him with a renewed charge that he was not to be interrupted again during the night . This incident established the fact that he was in the house after the doors had been locked and barred .