nearly midnight
Eleanor had some difficulty in keeping awake , and only managed to do so by dint of continually exciting her imagination with thoughts of the Cadogan collar in the safe , the key in the newel-post , the dory swinging at its moorings in water little more than waist deep ... . In spite of all this , she did as the slow hours lagged drift into a half-waking nap . How long it lasted she could n't guess when she wakened ; but it had not been too long ; a glance at the dial of her wrist-watch in a slant of moonlight through the window reassured her as to the flight of time . It was nearly midnight ; she had three hours left , three hours leeway before the return of her persecutor . She lay without moving , listening attentively . The house was anything but still ; ghosts of forgotten footsteps haunted all its stairs and corridors ; but the girl could hear no sound ascribable to human agency . Mrs. Clover no longer sang , her rocking-chair no longer creaked .