About noon
And inside , in the artificial darkness of the parlour , into which only one thin jet of sunlight penetrated , the stranger , hungry we must suppose , and fearful , hidden in his uncomfortable hot wrappings , pored through his dark glasses upon his paper or chinked his dirty little bottles , and occasionally swore savagely at the boys , audible if invisible , outside the windows . In the corner by the fireplace lay the fragments of half a dozen smashed bottles , and a pungent twang of chlorine tainted the air . So much we know from what was heard at the time and from what was subsequently seen in the room . About noon he suddenly opened his parlour door and stood glaring fixedly at the three or four people in the bar . `` Mrs. Hall , '' he said . Somebody went sheepishly and called for Mrs. Hall . Mrs. Hall appeared after an interval , a little short of breath , but all the fiercer for that .