one o'clock
`` I see , he might have proved an alibi . '' `` Exactly , my dear Watson ; he might have proved an alibi . We will suppose , for argument 's sake , that the household of Wisteria Lodge are confederates in some design . The attempt , whatever it may be , is to come off , we will say , before one o'clock . By some juggling of the clocks it is quite possible that they may have got Scott Eccles to bed earlier than he thought , but in any case it is likely that when Garcia went out of his way to tell him that it was one it was really not more than twelve . If Garcia could do whatever he had to do and be back by the hour mentioned he had evidently a powerful reply to any accusation . Here was this irreproachable Englishman ready to swear in any court of law that the accused was in the house all the time .