ten o’clock
A little thing , lasting only a second , and the odds were a thousand to one that I might have had my eyes on my cards at the time and missed it . But I did n't , and , in a flash , the air seemed to clear . Some shadow lifted from my brain , and I was looking at the three men with full and absolute recognition . The clock on the mantelpiece struck ten o'clock . The three faces seemed to change before my eyes and reveal their secrets . The young one was the murderer . Now I saw cruelty and ruthlessness , where before I had only seen good-humour .