a quarter to nine
At about eleven o'clock Lord Argentine had returned , and informed his man that he should not require his services till the next morning . A little later the valet had occasion to cross the hall and was somewhat astonished to see his master quietly letting himself out at the front door . He had taken off his evening clothes , and was dressed in a Norfolk coat and knickerbockers , and wore a low brown hat . The valet had no reason to suppose that Lord Argentine had seen him , and though his master rarely kept late hours , thought little of the occurrence till the next morning , when he knocked at the bedroom door at a quarter to nine as usual . He received no answer , and , after knocking two or three times , entered the room , and saw Lord Argentine 's body leaning forward at an angle from the bottom of the bed . He found that his master had tied a cord securely to one of the short bed-posts , and , after making a running noose and slipping it round his neck , the unfortunate man must have resolutely fallen forward , to die by slow strangulation . He was dressed in the light suit in which the valet had seen him go out , and the doctor who was summoned pronounced that life had been extinct for more than four hours .