about two o'clock in the morning
Almost immediately there came a succession of shrieks from the grand-tier in the immediate vicinity of the Robinson-Jones box , and I knew that something was afoot . Only a slight commotion in the audience was manifest to us upon the stage , but there was a hurrying and scurrying of ushers and others of greater or less authority , until finally the box-lights flashed out again in all their silk-tasselled illumination . The progress of the opera was not interrupted for a moment , but in that brief interval of blackness at the rear of the house some one had had time to force his way into the Robinson - Jones box and snatch from the neck of its fair occupant that wondrous hundred-thousand-dollar necklace of matchless rubies that had won the admiring regard of many beholders , and the envious interest of not a few . Three hours later Raffles Holmes and I returned from the days and dress of Lohengrin 's time to affairs of to-day , and when we were seated in my apartment along about two o'clock in the morning , Holmes lit a cigar , poured himself out a liberal dose of Glengarry , and with a quiet smile , leaned back in his chair . `` Well , '' he said , `` what about it ? '' `` You have the floor , Raffles , '' I answered . `` Was that your work ? ''