midnight
Lanyard , keeping an eye on the indicator , saw its hand register the equivalent of sixty English miles an hour more frequently than not . It seldom dropped below fifty except when passing through towns or villages . And more often than he liked Lanyard watched it creep up to and past the mark seventy . With such driving he was quite willing to believe that they would see Cherbourg or Heaven by midnight if not before ; always , of course , providing ... For the first three hours Leon stood the pace well . Then nerves or physical endurance began to fail , he dropped back , and the Delorme touring car was thereafter seldom visible . No more , for that matter , was the grey shadow . Lanyard 's forecast seemed to be borne out by its conduct : Dupont was biding his time and would undoubtedly attempt nothing before nightfall .