midnight
It soothed away all thought for a while . He turned back to his chair . He would wait until the rain had lulled before starting ... . A little before midnight the door was softly , and with extreme care , pushed open , and Mr Bethany 's old face , with an intense and sharpened scrutiny , looked in on the lamplit room . And as if still intent on the least sound within the empty walls around him , he came near , and stooping across the table , stared through his spectacles at the sidelong face of his friend , so still , with hands so lightly laid on the arms of his chair that the old man had need to watch closely to detect in his heavy slumber the slow measured rise and fall of his breast . He turned wearily away muttering a little , between an immeasurable relief and a now almost intolerable medley of vexations . What WAS this monstrous web of Craik 's ?