midnight
She was not interested in the fifty thousand dollars in an intrinsic sense ; she was interested only in seeing that old Nicky Viner , unappealing , yes , and almost repulsive both in personality and habits as the man was , was not blackmailed out of it ; that Danglar , yes , and hereafter , Perlmer too , should not prey like vultures on the man , and rob him of what was rightfully his . If , therefore , she secured those papers from Perlmer 's desk , it automatically put an end to Danglar 's scheme to-night ; and if , later , she saw to it that those papers came into Viner 's possession , that , too , automatically ended Perlmer 's persecutions . Indeed , there seemed little likelihood of any danger or risk at all . It could not be quite ten o clock yet ; and it was not likely that whoever was delegated by Danglar to rob Perlmer 's office would go there much before eleven anyway , since they would naturally allow for the possibility that Perlmer might stay later in his office than usual , a contingency that doubtless accounted for midnight being set as the hour at which they proposed to lay old Nicky Viner by the heels . Therefore , it seemed almost a certainty that she would reach there , not only first , but with ample time at her disposal to secure the papers and get away again without interruption . She might even , perhaps , reach the office before Perlmer himself had left -- it was still quite early enough for that -- but in that case she need only remain on watch until the lawyer had locked up and gone away . Nor need even the fact that the office would be locked dismay her .