about eleven o'clock
in the morning of the fifteenth of March
`` When a case has been squeezed out to the last drop , in a legal sense , you want to begin all over again with the family history of every one concerned and a list of his effects and household furniture . But I suppose you will have to be humoured ; and I imagine that the best way in which to give you the information you want will be to recite the circumstances surrounding the death of Jeffrey Blackmore . Will that suit you ? '' `` Perfectly , '' replied Thorndyke ; and thereupon Marchmont began : `` The death of Jeffrey Blackmore was discovered at about eleven o'clock in the morning of the fifteenth of March . It seems that a builder 's man was ascending a ladder to examine a gutter on number 31 , New Inn , when , on passing a second-floor window that was open at the top , he looked in and perceived a gentleman lying on a bed . The gentleman was fully clothed and had apparently lain down on the bed to rest ; at least so the builder thought at the time , for he was merely passing the window on his way up , and , very properly , did not make a minute examination . But when , some ten minutes later , he came down and saw that the gentleman was still in the same position , he looked at him more attentively ; and this is what he noticed -- but perhaps we had better have it in his own words as he told the story at the inquest . ''