noon
`` Granted , '' said the colonel ; and then in a clear voice , as if he wanted to be sure that there was no misunderstanding in spirit land , he announced the conditions of the test . They then left the room . Nick dispatched Patsy secretly to the Stevens house . Shortly before noon , Colonel Richmond , Horace , and Nick took a train for the city . At two o'clock they entered the vault of the safe deposit company . It is a long room below the level of the street . The walls are lined with metal drawers , fastened by locks of the most approved pattern .