about twelve o’clock
Watch was always kept with the utmost strictness , not only on the stairs , but from a window which commanded the street . No written summons was ever sent to attend any meeting , ordinary or extraordinary . Mr. Secretary , therefore , was much disconcerted when he found that his pockets were emptied of all his official documents . He languished in his cell till about twelve o'clock , very sick and very anxious , when he was put into a cab , and , to his great surprise , instead of being taken to a police court , was carried to Whitehall . There he was introduced to an elderly gentleman , who sat at the head of a long table covered with green cloth . A younger man , apparently a clerk , sat at a smaller table by the fire and wrote , seeming to take no notice whatever of what was going on . Mr. Secretary expected to hear something about transportation , and to be denounced as an enemy of the human race ; but he was pleasantly disappointed .