eight
o'clock
He went to a shed in the barn yard to get a spade he needed , and when he came back he saw the prisoner walk down the steps , and thought it singular a stranger should leave the house that way . Wondered whom she could be , and wondered also that the General had quarrelled with such a splendid looking lady . Next morning when he went back to his work , he noticed the glass door was shut , but the red curtain inside was looped back . He thought it was half-past eight o'clock , when he heard a loud cry in the bed-room , and very soon after , somebody screamed . He ran up the steps , but the glass door was locked on the inside , and when he went around and got into the room , the first thing he saw was General Darrington 's body lying on the floor , with his feet toward the hearth , and his head almost on a line with the iron vault built in the wall . The servants were screaming and wringing their hands , and he called them to help him lift the General , thinking that he had dropped in a fit ; but he found him stone cold and stiff . There was no sign of blood anywhere , but a heavy , old-fashioned brass andiron was lying close to the General 's head , and he saw a black spot like a bruise on his right temple .