two in
the morning
Once there , he went more quickly , moving on tiptoe , and so reached his own room halfway down . He passed two doors to get there ; another two lay beyond ; all four , as he believed , being always locked . It was these four rooms that conjured mightily with his imagination always , for these were the rooms he pictured to himself , though without a vestige of proof , as being occupied . It was from the further ones -- one or other of them -- he believed Mr. Skale came when he had passed down the corridor at two in the morning , stealthily , hurriedly , on the heels of that rush of sound that made him shake in his bed as he heard it . In his own room , however , surrounded by the familiar and personal objects that reminded him of normal life , he felt more at home . He undressed quickly , all his candles alight , and then sat before the fire in the armchair to read a little before getting into bed . And he read for choice Hebrew -- Hebrew poetry , and on this particular occasion , the books of Job and Ezekiel .