midnight
The early hours of night found him in a bad temper , and suffering from considerable exacerbation of nerves . He troubled little for himself , and still less concerning the police , for he was human , and their indifference to his advice annoyed him ; but for Sir Walter he was perturbed , and did not like the arrangements that he had planned . The doctor , however , designed to go and come and keep an eye upon the old man , and he hoped that the master of Chadlands would presently sleep , if only in his study chair . For himself he suffered a somewhat unpleasant experience toward midnight , but had himself to thank for it . He rested for an hour in his bedroom , then went downstairs , to find Mary and her father sitting quietly together in the great library . They were both reading , while at the farther end , where a risen moon already frosted the lofty windows above him , lay Septimus May in his coffin . Mary had plucked a wealth of white hothouse flowers , which stood in an old Venetian bowl at his feet .