midnight
The jury were acquainted with the facts that had been discussed a hundred times in a hundred different ways during the last few days . Still , there could be no doubt about it , the case looked very black for Paul when it concluded . The long feud which was known to exist between Paul and the murdered man ; the many threats which had been uttered ; the quarrel which had taken place on the night when Paul was elected member for Brunford ; the open insults which the murdered man had hurled at the prisoner ; the scene which had taken place on the night before the murder , and the threat he had made to avenge the injury . Mr. Bakewell also dwelt upon the excited state in which Paul was when he returned to the house , as would be proved by the evidence of the servants ; of his going upstairs to the landing outside the servants ' quarters at midnight ; of his going out into the night alone ; of his return early in the morning , pale and haggard ; then , as the crowning evidence of all , the knife , which was known to be Paul 's , which had been lying in his office -- an office which was always locked when the owner of it was not present -- the sharp , murderous weapon was found in the body of the murdered man , struck from behind . All these things Mr. Bakewell described , and spoke with telling emphasis on the main features of the case . Possibly he knew the character of the judge to whom he addressed himself , and he had so arranged his speech that the chain of evidence was apparently complete . When he sat down a great pent-up sigh arose , not only from the jurymen , but from the excited spectators .