midnight
The book was badly aimed and the rat did not stir , so again the poker performance of the previous night was repeated ; and again the rat , being closely pursued , fled up the rope of the alarm bell . Strangely too , the departure of this rat was instantly followed by the renewal of the noise made by the general rat community . On this occasion , as on the previous one , Malcolmson could not see at what part of the room the rat disappeared , for the green shade of his lamp left the upper part of the room in darkness , and the fire had burned low . On looking at his watch he found it was close on midnight ; and , not sorry for the _ divertissement _ , he made up his fire and made himself his nightly pot of tea . He had got through a good spell of work , and thought himself entitled to a cigarette ; and so he sat on the great oak chair before the fire and enjoyed it . Whilst smoking he began to think that he would like to know where the rat disappeared to , for he had certain ideas for the morrow not entirely disconnected with a rat-trap . Accordingly he lit another lamp and placed it so that it would shine well into the right-hand corner of the wall by the fireplace .