midnight
The thought came to add to the keen distress he felt at the sight of the collie 's discomfiture . And , indeed , his own personal distress had increased in a marked degree during the past minutes , and continued to increase steadily to the climax . He recognized that the drain on his own vitality grew steadily , and that the attack was now directed against himself even more than against the defeated dog , and the too much deceived cat . It all seemed so rapid and uncalculated after that -- the events that took place in this little modern room at the top of Putney Hill between midnight and sunrise -- that Dr. Silence was hardly able to follow and remember it all . It came about with such uncanny swiftness and terror ; the light was so uncertain ; the movements of the black cat so difficult to follow on the dark carpet , and the doctor himself so weary and taken by surprise -- that he found it almost impossible to observe accurately , or to recall afterwards precisely what it was he had seen or in what order the incidents had taken place . He never could understand what defect of vision on his part made it seem as though the cat had duplicated itself at first , and then increased indefinitely , so that there were at least a dozen of them darting silently about the floor , leaping softly on to chairs and tables , passing like shadows from the open door to the end of the room , all black as sin , with brilliant green eyes flashing fire in all directions . It was like the reflections from a score of mirrors placed round the walls at different angles .