midnight
`` Thanks , Tommy , '' I said briefly . `` You 'd give a jellyfish a backbone -- you two . '' And with a last squeeze of the hand I left him standing there , and set off across the station for Edith Terrace . It was close on midnight when I got back , and every one in the house seemed to have gone to bed . The light had been put out in the hall , but the door of my sitting-room was partly open , and a small jet of gas was flickering away over the fireplace . I turned this up and , looking round , discovered a large box with Holland 's label on it , a note , and a half-sheet of paper -- all decorating the table in the centre of the room . I examined the half-sheet of paper first .