About nine o'clock
`` As you are in a way responsible for the old man , perhaps that is your duty , '' replied Trenholme , secretly thinking that on such roads and under such skies the volatile youth would not go very far . A blast of wind entered the house door as Harkness went out of it , scattering Trenholme 's papers , causing his study lamp to flare up suddenly , and almost extinguishing it . Trenholme went on with his writing , and now a curious thing happened . About nine o'clock he again heard steps upon his path , and the bell rang . Thinking it a visitor , he stepped to the door himself , as he often did . There was no one there but a small boy , bearing a large box on his shoulders . He asked for Mrs. Martha .