midnight
`` I did n't say I was afraid , sir . Perhaps you are right to laugh at me , sir ; still , Mr. Bullard has always done the unexpected thing in the past , and -- '' Teddy came in . `` Teddy , '' said Alan , `` shut the door , and in the fewest words possible tell Caw what Bullard did to Flitch in the fog . '' Three minutes later Caw went out , with his list , easier in his mind than he had ever been since that midnight hour when he set the clock going . And now Alan glanced at the clock . `` Time 's about up . We had better go downstairs . ''