midnight
He made up his mind to run down that night to me , in order , as he says , to see the Things before they were killed . He dispatched a telegram , which never reached me , about four o'clock , and spent the evening at a music hall . In London , also , on Saturday night there was a thunderstorm , and my brother reached Waterloo in a cab . On the platform from which the midnight train usually starts he learned , after some waiting , that an accident prevented trains from reaching Woking that night . The nature of the accident he could not ascertain ; indeed , the railway authorities did not clearly know at that time . There was very little excitement in the station , as the officials , failing to realise that anything further than a breakdown between Byfleet and Woking junction had occurred , were running the theatre trains which usually passed through Woking round by Virginia Water or Guildford . They were busy making the necessary arrangements to alter the route of the Southampton and Portsmouth Sunday League excursions .