six o'clock
They buried the old warrior with pomp and circumstance , not to speak of many tears , and his young assistant in the sanctum came home from the graveside with a sense of having lost a valued counselor and friend . Only the home to which the assistant returned with this feeling was not the Third Hall Back of Mrs. Paynter 's , sometimes known as the Scriptorium , but a whole suite of pleasant rooms , upstairs and down , in a nice little house on Duke of Gloucester Street . For Nicolovius had made his contemplated move on the first of May , and Queed had gone with him . It was half-past six o'clock on a pretty summer 's evening . Queed opened the house-door with a latch-key and went upstairs to the comfortable living-room , which faithfully reproduced the old professor 's sitting-room at Mrs. Paynter 's . Nicolovius , in his black silk cap , was sitting near the open window , reading and smoking a strong cigarette . `` Ah , here you are !