two o'clock
I was yet to learn a great deal about this visitation . So , in due course having smoked my cheroot , I jerked the stump into the fire . Of course I could not think of depriving myself of candle-light ; and being already of a thoughtful , old-bachelor temperament , and averse from burning houses , I placed one of my tall wax-lights in a basin on the table by my bed -- in which I soon effected a lodgment , and lay with a comparative sense of security . Then I heard two o'clock strike ; but shortly after , as I suppose , sleep overtook me , and I have no distinct idea for how long my slumber lasted . The fire was very low when I awoke , and saw a figure -- and a very odd one -- seated by the embers , and stooping over the grate , with a pair of long hands expanded , as it seemed , to catch the warmth of the sinking fire . It was that of a very tall old man , entirely dressed in white flannel -- a very long spencer , and some sort of white swathing about his head . His back was toward me ; and he stooped without the slightest motion over the fire-place , in the attitude I have described .