a quarter past
three
The supper itself was the most amusing affair you ever saw ; for what must they do but flop down on the floor just where they stood , not minding the bare boards at all , and eat cold chicken and twist rolls from paper bags the footman threw to them . As for the liquor , you would have thought they never could have enough of it -- but it 's not for me to say anything about that , seeing I had a bottle of the best to myself down in the corner by the conservatory , and more than one paper bag when the first was empty . Now , this supper occupied them until nearly three in the morning . I make out -- as I had to do to the police -- that it was just a quarter past three when the real business began , and a pretty frightening business , as my sequel will show . First it began with the sweepers , who swept up the wreck of the vittals with long brooms , and sprinkled scented water afterwards to lay the dust . Then the musicians played a mournful sort of tune , and after that , what do you think ? -- why , in came a number of stage carpenters , who began to hang the whole place with black .