midnight
`` As he took his clothes-bag , it does n't look as if he was coming back . '' Charnock set off for Norton 's office . He did not know how he got there , because a reaction had begun , and he sat down feeling powerless and badly shaken . At midnight , Charnock , sitting drowsily in a chair in Norton 's office , roused himself with a jerk . He was too anxious about Festing to go to bed , but bodily fatigue reacted on his brain and dulled his senses . For all that , he thought he heard steps in the snow , and getting up quickly went to the door . The bitter cold pierced him like a knife and he shivered .