midnight
`` Oh , he went out the first night , did he ? '' `` Yes , sir , and returned very late -- after we were all in bed . He told me after he had taken the rooms that he would do so and asked me not to bar the door . I heard him come up the stair after midnight . '' `` But his meals ? '' `` It was his particular direction that we should always , when he rang , leave his meal upon a chair , outside his door . Then he rings again when he has finished , and we take it down from the same chair .