midnight
So it was finally settled . Colonel Wragge would provide the materials for the experiment , and we were to meet at midnight . How he would contrive at that hour -- but that was his business . I only know we both realised that he would keep his word , and whether a pig died at midnight , or at noon , was after all perhaps only a question of the sleep and personal comfort of the executioner . `` Tonight , then , in the laundry , '' said Dr. Silence finally , to clinch the plan ; `` we three alone -- and at midnight , when the household is asleep and we shall be free from disturbance . '' He exchanged significant glances with our host , who , at that moment , was called away by the announcement that the family doctor had arrived , and was ready to see him in his sister 's room . For the remainder of the afternoon John Silence disappeared .