eight o'clock
She thought , as I did , that there was little doubt of it . I said nothing to her , however , of the detective 's suspicions about Alex. Little things that I had not noticed at the time now came back to me . I had an uncomfortable feeling that perhaps Alex was a spy , and that by taking him into the house I had played into the enemy 's hand . But at eight o'clock that night Alex himself appeared , and with him a strange and repulsive individual . They made a queer pair , for Alex was almost as disreputable as the tramp , and he had a badly swollen eye . Gertrude had been sitting listlessly waiting for the evening message from Mr. Jamieson , but when the singular pair came in , as they did , without ceremony , she jumped up and stood staring . Winters , the detective who watched the house at night , followed them , and kept his eyes sharply on Alex 's prisoner .