Midnight
They looked stupid , and he liked stupid jurors . `` Them sharp fellers that thinks they knows more 'n the cor ` ner , is a cussed nuisance , '' he often had occasion to remark . The jury sat near one of the windows , in a semicircle of chairs which had been borrowed from the first and second floors . Pending the resumption of their melancholy work , such of them as could read were reading newspapers containing reports of the first day 's proceedings , from two to ten columns long , wherein the scene of the `` Mysterious Midnight Tragedy , '' as one paper called it , was represented in the most ingenious manner by printers ' rules cut to show the dimensions of the rooms on the third floor , the position of the fireplace , bed , washstand , chest of drawers , unknown machine in the corner , and other things which had no bearing whatever on the affair . The other jurors , who could not read at all , or had an insuperable aversion to that laborious occupation , were rolling their quids in silence , and looking wise . At a long table in the centre of the room were seated several young gentlemen , dressed with singular independence of style . From one point of view they looked like actors , bearing about them signs of fatigue , as if from heavy night work .