nearly ten o'clock before
The lit lamps in the Gray 's Inn Road seemed to him a little unsteady , and the passers-by showed a disposition to blunder into him . `` Queer business , '' he said to himself dimly ; `` I 'd better have a cab . '' He reached home in a dream . It was nearly ten o'clock before the doctor remembered his promise , and went upstairs to Eustace 's flat . The outer door was half-open so that he thought he was expected , and he switched on the light in the little hall , and shut the door behind him with the simplicity of habit . But when he swung round from the door he gave a cry of astonishment . Eustace was lying asleep in a chair before him with his face flushed and drooping on his shoulder , and his breath hissing noisily through his parted lips .