about midnight
A certain amount of desultory debate followed as to the possible outlines of a possible organisation , and as to the observances which might be devised to mark its religious character . As it flowed on the atmosphere grew more and more electric . A new passion , though still timid and awestruck , seemed to shine from the looks of the men standing or sitting round the central figure . Even Lestrange lost his smile under the pressure of that strange subdued expectancy about him ; and when Robert walked homeward , about midnight , there weighed upon him an almost awful sense of crisis , of an expanding future . He let himself in softly and went into his study . There he sank into a chair and fainted . He was probably not unconscious very long , but after he had struggled back to his senses , and was lying stretched on the sofa among the books with which it was littered , the solitary candle in the big room throwing weird shadows about him , a moment of black depression overtook him .