five o'clock
Then the minutes slipped away again in undisturbed silence . At about twenty minutes to five the figure of a very tall man dressed as a layman slipped in through the door that led towards the river , and advanced to the door where he tapped in the same manner as the woman before him , and was admitted at once . After that people began to come more frequently , some hesitating and looking about them as they entered the court , some slipping straight through without a pause , and going to the door , which opened and shut noiselessly as each tapped and was admitted . Sometimes two or three would come together , sometimes singly ; but by five o'clock about twenty or thirty persons had come and been engulfed by the blackness that showed each time the door opened ; while no glimmer of light from any of the windows betrayed the presence of any living soul within . At five o'clock the stream stopped . The little court lay as silent under the stars again as an hour before . It was a night of breathless stillness ; there was no dripping from the eaves ; no sound of wheels or hoofs from the city ; only once or twice came the long howl of a dog across the roofs .