midnight
At the same time , he felt convinced that he dwelt under the same roof with secret malefactors ; and the unregenerate instinct of the chase impelled him to severity . The bottle had run low ; the summer sun had finally withdrawn ; and at the same moment , night and the pangs of hunger recalled him from his dreams . He went forth , and dined in the Criterion : a dinner in consonance , not so much with his purse , as with the admirable wine he had discussed . What with one thing and another , it was long past midnight when he returned home . A cab was at the door ; and entering the hall , Somerset found himself face to face with one of the most regular of the few who visited Mr. Jones : a man of powerful figure , strong lineaments , and a chin-beard in the American fashion . This person was carrying on one shoulder a black portmanteau , seemingly of considerable weight . That he should find a visitor removing baggage in the dead of night , recalled some odd stories to the young man 's memory ; he had heard of lodgers who thus gradually drained away , not only their own effects , but the very furniture and fittings of the house that sheltered them ; and now , in a mood between pleasantry and suspicion , and aping the manner of a drunkard , he roughly bumped against the man with the chin-beard and knocked the portmanteau from his shoulder to the floor .