midnight
He would go to the river 's end as he had planned to go before McDowell told him of Shan Tung and Miriam Kirkstone . And he would not go alone . Mary Josephine would go with him . It was midnight when he rose from the big chair and went to his room . The door was closed . He opened it and entered . Even as his hand groped for the switch on the wall , his nostrils caught the scent of something which was familiar and yet which should not have been there .