nearly one in the morning
`` I suppose they 're enjoying themselves , '' he reflected . `` The house looks queer without them ; I 'll go to the club . '' He stayed later than usual , and drank more than usual , that night . It was nearly one in the morning when he let himself in with his latch-key , and went upstairs to bed . Approaching the toilette-table , he found a letter lying on it , addressed to `` Mr. Ronald -- private . '' It was not in his wife 's handwriting ; not in any handwriting known to him . The characters sloped the wrong way , and the envelope bore no postmark .