midnight
But all along Trotter had been wondering just how he was going to get rid of those telltale bones . At the merriest moments of the feast the question of the corner in which they could be secreted or the aperture out of which they could be thrust had hung over him like a veritable sword of Damocles . But now he knew there was only one way to solve the problem . And that was to wrap the remains carefully together , tie them up , and make his escape down through the quiet house into the midnight street . There the ever-damnatory parcel could be casually dropped into a near-by ash barrel or tossed into a refuse can , and he could aimlessly round the block , like a sedentary gentleman enjoying his belated airing . II Trotter crept down through the quiet house with all the trepidation of a sneak-thief .