twelve o'clock
Sunday came and as usual Brother Brown , with his customary bravado , made his appearance in the city . That evening Gottlieb invited me to dine with him at the resort ordinarily frequented by our quarry . True to his invariable custom , Brown turned up there with a party of his cronies and spent the evening in merry feasting , presumably upon the money of our client . It was a clear , moonlight night and when the glowworm showed the matin to be near -- or , more correctly , when it neared twelve o'clock -- Brown beckoned to the waiter , paid his bill out of a fat roll of greenbacks , winked good-naturedly at us , and bade his friends good - night . A moment or two later Gottlieb whispered to me to follow him and we stepped forth upon the street . Brown was strolling quietly down Broadway toward Twenty-third Street . A short distance behind followed a thick-set man with a square-cut jaw whom I had frequently noticed in Gottlieb 's office .