midnight
Then he lured his victim in here under pretence that it was his own house -- he had the purloined latch-key -- and murdered him . Audacious , but a far safer way than doing it out of doors . '' But Marley 's imagination refused to go so far . The theory was plausible enough , he pointed out respectfully , if the assassin had been assured that these midnight rambles were a matter of custom . The point was a shrewd one , and Steel had to admit it . He almost wished now that he had suggested that he often took these midnight rambles . He regretted the fiction still more when Marley asked if he had had some appointment elsewhere to-night .