ten o’clock
The assistant complied , and the Jew , after sitting down a little while to persuade himself that he really had no particular interest in the matter , rose and went slowly upstairs . The staircase was badly lighted , and half way up he stumbled on something soft . He gave a hasty exclamation and , stooping down , saw that he had trodden on the dead cat . At ten o'clock that night the pawnbroker sat with his friend Levi discussing a bottle of champagne , which the open-eyed assistant had procured from the public-house opposite . `` You 're a lucky man , Hyams , '' said his friend , as he raised his glass to his lips . `` Thirty thousand pounds ! It 's a fortune , a small fortune , '' he added correctively .