midnight
He chuckled softly , then sighed . `` Bed , Caw . '' Within the hour he had a bad heart attack , and it was the forerunner of worse . Precisely at midnight Caw stole into the sitting-room and released the pendulum . Thereafter he went down to the shore . `` Hard orders , dear master , '' he sighed , `` but I 'll carry them out to the letter . '' In his home at Earl 's Gate , Kensington , Mr. Lancaster had made an indifferent meal of an excellently cooked and temptingly served breakfast .