eleven at night
Robert had been in the cellar very late on the previous night , and was sure that at that time no papers were on the stairs . `` I never go down them stairs , sir , '' said Robert , `` without looking -- and listening too , '' he added under his breath , with a furtive look back at the cook , who was standing in the second doorway of the butler 's pantry . The truth was , Robert had been afraid of the cellar ever since the finding of the second letter : and all the servants shared his uneasiness . Between eleven at night and seven the next morning , this mute ghostly waif from Palestine , with the half-century old dust of a pomegranate flower in its keeping , had come up that dark stairway . It appeared now that the letters were always found on the fourth stair from the top . This fact had not before been elicited , but there seemed little doubt about it . Even little Princess said , -- `` Yes , papa , I am sure that the one I found was on that stair ; for I now remember Fido came up with only just one or two bounds to the top , as soon as he saw me . ''