twelve o'clock
All these objections pressed themselves upon me , and kept me silent . But in spite of their force I could not prevent the suspicion from continually arising . Ashamed to mention it , because it may have sounded too absurd , I could not prevent my constructive imagination indulging in its vagaries , and with this secret conviction I resolved to await events , and in case suspicion from other quarters should ever designate the probable assassin , I might then come forward with my bit of corroborative evidence , should the suspected assassin be the stranger of the archway . By twelve o'clock a new direction was given to rumor . Hitherto the stories , when carefully sifted of all exaggerations of flying conjecture , had settled themselves into something like this : The Lehfeldts had retired to rest at a quarter before ten , as was their custom . They had seen Lieschen go into her bedroom for the night , and had themselves gone to sleep with unclouded minds . From this peaceful security they were startled early in the morning by the appalling news of the calamity which had fallen on them .