nine in the evening
And that is how it happened that the next morning , when the church bells of all Grayville were ringing with an added unction appropriate to the day , the sturdy little son of Deacon Byram , breaking a way through the snow to the place of worship , struck his foot against the body of Amasa Abersush , philanthropist . A WATCHER BY THE DEAD In an upper room of an unoccupied dwelling in the part of San Francisco known as North Beach lay the body of a man , under a sheet . The hour was near nine in the evening ; the room was dimly lighted by a single candle . Although the weather was warm , the two windows , contrary to the custom which gives the dead plenty of air , were closed and the blinds drawn down . The furniture of the room consisted of but three pieces -- an arm-chair , a small reading-stand supporting the candle , and a long kitchen table , supporting the body of the man . All these , as also the corpse , seemed to have been recently brought in , for an observer , had there been one , would have seen that all were free from dust , whereas everything else in the room was pretty thickly coated with it , and there were cobwebs in the angles of the walls .