midnight
3 . That the cross on the door seemed to possess some secret meaning connected with their presence in the house , it having been erased one evening when the whole three went out on some matter or other , only to be chalked on again when in an hour or so later , father and daughter returned alone . 4 . That it was the father and not the son who made such purchases as were needed , while it was the son and not the father who carried on whatever operations they had on hand ; nightfall being the favorite hour for the one and midnight for the other ; though it not infrequently happened that the latter sauntered out for a short time also in the afternoon , probably for the drink he could not go long without . 5 . That they were men of great strength but little alertness ; the stray glimpses I had had of them , revealing a breadth of back that was truly formidable , if it had not been joined to a heaviness of motion that proclaimed a certain stolidity of mind that was eminently in our favor . How best to use these facts in the building up of a matured plan of action , was , then , the problem .