midnight
`` You know , Sir , I suppose , '' said Philips , meekly . Brandon had carried Asgeelo with him , as he was often in the habit of doing on his journeys . After his interview with Philips he stood outside on the veranda of the village inn for some time , and then went around through the village , stopping at a number of houses . Whatever it was that he was engaged in , it occupied him for several hours , and he did not get back to the inn till midnight . On the following morning he sent up to the Hall , but Potts had not yet returned . Philips came to tell him that he had just received a telegraphic dispatch informing him that Potts would be back that day about one o'clock . This intelligence at last seemed to promise something definite .