SEVEN o’clock in the evening
In short , they were just as hieroglyphic . `` Confound the thing ! '' exclaimed Judge Jarriquez . IT WAS SEVEN o'clock in the evening . Judge Jarriquez had all the time been absorbed in working at the puzzle -- and was no further advanced -- and had forgotten the time of repast and the time of repose , when there came a knock at his study door . It was time . An hour later , and all the cerebral substance of the vexed magistrate would certainly have evaporated under the intense heat into which he had worked his head .