midday
he said to himself ; and as she passed out of sight he turned to the lodging-house door and entered without knocking . He emerged , twenty minutes later , with his white bands twisted , his hat awry , and a smear of blood on the surplice he carried -- altogether a very unclerical-looking figure . On the way back to his inn he kept looking at his cut knuckles , and , arriving , called for a noggin of brandy . By midday he was drunk , and at one o'clock he was due to appear at the Chapter House . The hour struck : but John Romley sat on in the coffee-room staring stupidly at his knuckles . And all this while in the lodging-house parlour sat or paced the man who has no name in this book . He also was drinking : but the brandy-and-water , though he gulped it fiercely , neither unsteadied his legs nor confused his brain .