midnight
He went down to the dingy lobby . A single , half-hearted electric bulb shed its feeble light on the desk , in front of which stood a man registering under the sleepy eye of the night clerk . After the late arrival had started upstairs in the wake of the clerk , Barnes stepped up to inspect the book . The midnight express from the north did not stop at Crowndale , he had learned upon inquiry , and it was the only train touching the town between nightfall and dawn . The register bore the name of Thomas Moore , Hornville . There was not the slightest doubt in Barnes 's mind that this was the man who had been detailed to shadow the luckless Peter . Only an imperative demand by government authorities could have brought about the stopping of the express at Hornville and later on at Crowndale .