midnight
The conviction in his wife 's tone was a subtle compliment which he did not fail to appreciate . `` I have hopes , '' he confessed , `` and yet , let me tell you this , Violet , I have never been more puzzled . Ask yourself , now . What enterprise is there worthy of a man like Guillot , in which he could engage himself here in London between now and midnight ? Any ordinary theft is beneath him . The purloining of the Crown jewels , perhaps , he might consider , but I do n't think that anything less in the way of robbery would bring him here . He has his code and he is as vain as a peacock .