midnight
`` When he came out of prison he found me in the zenith of my political career , '' Sir Henry went on . `` On that well-remembered night of my speech at the Albert Hall I can only surmise that he went there , heard me , and probably became fiercely resentful that he had found a man cleverer than himself . The fact remains that he must have gone in a cab in front of my carriage to Park Street , alighted before me , and secreted himself within the portico . It was midnight , and the street was deserted . My carriage stopped , I got out , and it then drove on to the mews . I was in the act of opening the door with my latch-key when , by an unknown hand , there was flung full into my eyes some corrosive fluid which burned terribly , and caused me excruciating pain . I heard a man 's exultant voice cry , ` There !