twelve o'clock
`` Why bless you , sir ! they are down in several places , from the weight of the ice , so I heard the station operator say , just before you came in . '' As Dr. Hargrove walked away , an expression of stern indignation replaced the benign look that usually reigned over his noble features , and he now resolutely closed all the avenues of compassion , along which divers fallacious excuses and charitable conjectures had marched into his heart , and stifled for a time the rigorous verdict of reason . He had known from the moment he learned the tin box was missing , that only the frail , fair fingers of Minnie Merle could have abstracted it , but justice demanded that he should have indisputable proof of her presence in V -- after twelve o'clock , for he had not left the library until that hour , and knew that the train passed through at eleven . Conviction is the pitiless work of unbiased reason , but faith is the acceptance thereof , by will , and he would not wholly believe , until there was no alternative . _ Falsus in uno , falsus in omnibus _ , and quite naturally Dr. Hargrove began to discredit the entire narrative of wrongs , which had attained colossal proportions from her delineation , and to censure himself most harshly for having suffered this dazzling Delilah to extort from him a solemn promise of secrecy ; for , unworthy of sympathy as he now deemed her , his rigid rectitude would not permit him to regard that unworthiness as sufficient justification for abrogating his plighted word . Suspicious facts which twelve hours before had been hushed by the soft spell of her rich plaintive voice , now started up clamorous and accusing , and the pastor could not avoid beholding the discrepancy between her pleas of poverty and friendlessness , and the costly appearance of her apparel , -- coupled with her refusal to acquaint him with her means of maintenance .