midnight
No item was missing from its accustomed place . Mrs. Blake thought perhaps the intruders had not entered her room at all . In Gerald 's den were `` stacks , '' as he said , of relics , souvenirs , trophies of chase and war , but no one thing of the intrinsic value of fifty dollars . What could have been the object of their midnight search ? was the question all Fort Frayne was asking as people dispersed and went home , -- the doctor intimating it was high time that Mrs. Blake was permitted to seek repose . Not until he had practically cleared the house of all but her most intimate friends , Mrs. Dade and Mrs. Ray , would Waller permit himself to ask a question that had been uppermost in his mind ever since he heard her story . `` Mrs. Blake , someone has been ransacking Mr. Field 's quarters for letters or papers .