a quarter past two
I tiptoed to the stairs and , stepping softly , ascended to the sick room . All was quiet , and Mrs. Weymouth whispered to me that the patient still slept soundly . I returned to find Nayland Smith pacing about the room in that state of suppressed excitement habitual with him in the approach of any crisis . At a quarter past two the breeze dropped entirely , and such a stillness reigned all about us as I could not have supposed possible so near to the ever-throbbing heart of the great metropolis . Plainly I could hear Weymouth 's heavy breathing . He sat at the window and looked out into the black shadows under the cedars . Smith ceased his pacing and stood again on the rug very still .