midnight
`` I hope to God he is in ! '' Without touching the recumbent form upon the chesterfield , without seeking to learn , without daring to learn , if she lived or had died , Leroux , the tempo of his life changed to a breathless gallop , rushed out of the study , across the entrance hail , and , throwing wide the flat door , leapt up the stair to the flat above -- that of his old friend , Dr. Cumberly . The patter of the slippered feet grew faint upon the stair ; then , as Leroux reached the landing above , became inaudible altogether . In Leroux 's study , the table-clock ticked merrily on , seeming to hasten its ticking as the hand crept around closer and closer to midnight . The mosaic shade of the lamp mingled reds and blues and greens upon the white ceiling above and poured golden light upon the pages of manuscript strewn about beneath it . This was a typical work-room of a literary man having the ear of the public -- typical in every respect , save for the fur-clad figure outstretched upon the settee . And now the peeping light indiscreetly penetrated to the hem of a silken garment revealed by some disarrangement of the civet fur .