midnight
He went indoors again to make sure that nothing was there , and this time he made a discovery -- his tea was gone from his cup . He gave a shudder of disgust , and , leaving his food untouched , put on coat and cap , and went out shutting his door behind him . His spirits sank . It seemed to him that , had it been midnight instead of this blank , even daylight , had his unearthly-looking visitant acted in more unearthly fashion , the circumstances would have had less weird force to impress his mind . We can , after all , only form conjectures regarding inexplicable incidents from the successive impressions that have been made upon us . This man was not at all given to love of romance or superstition , yet the easy explanation that some man , for purpose of trick or crime , had hidden in the box , did not seem to him to fit the circumstances . He could not make himself believe that the eyes he had seen belonged to a living man ; on the other hand , he found it impossible to conceive of a tea-drinking ghost .