eight
o'clock
`` Well , '' said Thorndyke , `` do n't let us keep you from your duties , with poor Barnard currant picking in the Grecian Isles . But come in and see us again . Drop in when you like after your work is done . You wo n't be in our way even if we are busy , which we very seldom are after eight o'clock . '' I thanked Dr. Thorndyke most heartily for making me free of his chambers in this hospitable fashion and took my leave , setting forth homeward by way of Middle Temple Lane and the Embankment ; not a very direct route for Fetter Lane , it must be confessed ; but our talk had revived my interest in the Bellingham household and put me in a reflective vein . From the remarkable conversation that I had overheard it was evident that the plot was thickening . Not that I supposed that these two respectable gentlemen really suspected one another of having made away with the missing man ; but still , their unguarded words , spoken in anger , made it clear that each had allowed the thought of sinister possibilities to enter his mind -- a dangerous condition that might easily grow into actual suspicion .