Eleven o'clock
`` Ah , the fever , the fever ! '' he exclaimed , passionately . `` You should have a doctor , '' she muttered , as if powerless to frame other words . Eleven o'clock that night found Castle Craneycrow wrapped in the stillness of death . Its inmates were awake , but they were petrified , paralyzed by the discovery that Dorothy Garrison was gone . Scared eyes looked upon white faces , and there was upon the heart of each the clutch of an icy hand . So appalling was the sensation that the five conspirators breathed not nor spoke , but listened for the heartbeats that had stopped when fears finally gave way to complete conviction .