midnight before
I think you will find her story one of the most uncanny you have ever heard . '' He had placed a chair for her and , still addressing us but looking at her , went on : `` It seems that the morning the vandalism was first discovered she and Dr. Lith at once began a thorough search of the building to ascertain the extent of the depredations . The search lasted all day , and well into the night . I believe it was midnight before you finished ? '' `` It was almost twelve , '' began the girl , in a musical voice that was too Parisian to harmonize with her plain Anglo-Saxon name , `` when Dr. Lith was down here in his office checking off the objects in the catalogue which were either injured or missing . I had been working in the library . The noise of something like a shade flapping in the wind attracted my attention .