about ten o’clock
The sound of laughter followed him up the stairs . Filomena was not asleep ; she had been lying on her bed listening to the sound of enormous laughter and the tread of strangely heavy feet on the stairs and along the corridors . Sir Hercules drew a chair to her bedside and sat there for a long time in silence , holding his wife 's hand and sometimes gently squeezing it . At about ten o'clock they were startled by a violent noise . There was a breaking of glass , a stamping of feet , with an outburst of shouts and laughter . The uproar continuing for several minutes , Sir Hercules rose to his feet and , in spite of his wife 's entreaties , prepared to go and see what was happening . There was no light on the staircase , and Sir Hercules groped his way down cautiously , lowering himself from stair to stair and standing for a moment on each tread before adventuring on a new step .