midnight
Mr. Clutterbuck paid at the desk and left the establishment . I had received the verdict of the average man . When I reached home , Sarakoff was out . He had left a message to say he would not be in until after midnight , as he was going to hear Leonora sing at the opera , and purposed to take her to supper afterwards . Dinner was therefore a solitary meal for me , and when it was all over I endeavoured to plunge into some medical literature . The hours passed slowly . It was almost impossible to read , for the process , to me , was similar to trying to take an interest in a week-old newspaper .