midnight
he continued -- `` bless your innocent old heart , he comes home with his hands just reg ` larly dripping with murder . He fumbles at that door , finds it locked , and so gets that ladder , histes it up to the window , and hops into bed as easy as any Christian schoolboy in town , and he thinks he 's all right -- but he never thinks of Tony Smart , your humble servant . '' This view of the case was perfectly convincing to Saul and also to his wife when he repeated it at the supper-table ; but it struck Maud with a sudden chill . She remembered that when she had dismissed Offitt from that midnight conference at her casement , he had carefully taken the ladder away from her window , and had set it against the house some distance off . She had admired at the time his considerate chivalry , and thought how nice it was to have a lover so obedient and so careful of her reputation . But now , the detective 's ghastly discovery turned her thought in a direction which appalled her . Could it be possible -- and all that money -- where did it come from ?