eight o'clock
`` Undoubtedly , '' agreed Thorndyke . `` I have had a great deal of very unpleasant correspondence with him -- Marchmont will tell you about that -- and yesterday I left a note for him , asking for an interview , to settle the business , naming eight o'clock this morning as the hour , because I had to leave town before noon . He replied , in a very singular letter , that he would see me at that hour , and Mr. Marchmont very kindly consented to accompany me . Accordingly , we went to his chambers together this morning , arriving punctually at eight o'clock . We rang the bell several times , and knocked loudly at the door , but as there was no response , we went down and spoke to the hall-porter . This man , it seems , had already noticed , from the courtyard , that the electric lights were full on in Mr. Hartridge 's sitting-room , as they had been all night , according to the statement of the night-porter ; so now , suspecting that something was wrong , he came up with us , and rang the bell and battered at the door . Then , as there was still no sign of life within , he inserted his duplicate key and tried to open the door -- unsuccessfully , however , as it proved to be bolted on the inside .