ten
minutes past two
A true , true friend -- that 's what you are . Thank God I ran across you . '' Cleek smiled and nodded to him as he passed out and hurried away ; then , hearing the other gentlemen coming down the stairs , he , too , made haste to get out of the room and to creep up to his own after they had assembled , and the cigar cabinet and the whiskey were being passed round , and the doctor was busy above with the man who was somebody 's victim . * * * * * The big old grandfather clock at the top of the stairs pointed ten minutes past two , and the house was hushed of every sound save that which is the evidence of deep sleep , when the door of Cleek 's room swung quietly open , and Cleek himself , in dressing-gown and wadded bedroom slippers , stepped out into the dark hall , and , leaving Dollops on guard , passed like a shadow over the thick , unsounding carpet . The rooms of all the male occupants of the house , including that of Philip Bawdrey himself , opened upon this . He went to each in turn , unlocked it , stepped in , closed it after him , and lit the bedroom candle . The sleeping-draught had accomplished all that was required of it ; and in each and every room he entered -- Captain Travers 's , Lieutenant Forshay 's , Mr. Robert Murdock 's -- there lay the occupant thereof stretched out at full length in the grip of that deep and heavy sleep which comes of drugs .