ten o'clock
Some thought the old gentleman , arrived that day from London , to be a new kind of commercial traveler , with designs upon the gardens of the gentry ; others that he was a sort of scientific collector ; others , again , that he was a private detective ; and since there was no evidence at all , good or bad , in support of any one of these suggestions , a very pretty debate became possible . A silence fell when his step was heard to pass down the stairs and out into the street , and another half an hour later when he returned . Then once more the discussion began . At ten o'clock the majority of the men moved out into the moonlight to disperse homewards , as the landlord began to put away the glasses and glance at the clock . Overhead the lighted blind showed where the mysterious stranger still kept vigil ; and over the way , beyond the still leafless trees , towered up the twisted chimneys of Mrs. Baxter 's house . No word had been spoken connecting the two , yet one or two of the men glanced across the way in vague surmise . Nearly a couple of hours later the landlord himself came to the door to give the great Mr. Nugent himself , with whom he had been sitting in the inner parlor , a last good-night , and he too noticed that the bedroom window was still lighted up .