midday
`` Certainly . '' Kent broke the revolver over the blotting pad , swept the ejected cartridges into the open drawer , and passed the empty weapon to its owner . When the door closed behind the outgoing visitor the victor in the small passage at arms began to walk the floor ; but at four o'clock , which was Hildreth 's hour for coming down-town , he put on his hat and went to climb the three flights of stairs to the editor 's den in the _ Argus _ building . The cubby-hole in which Hildreth earned his bread by the sweat of his brain was dark even at midday ; and during working hours the editor sat under a funnel-shaped reflector in a conic shower-bath of electric light which flooded man and desk and left the corners of the room in a penumbra of grateful twilight . Kent sat just outside of the cone of radiance , watching Hildreth 's face as the editor read stolidly through the contents of the box envelope . It was an instructive study in thought dynamics . There was a gleam of battle satisfaction in the editorial eye when Hildreth faced the last sheet down upon the accumulation of evidence , saying : `` You did n't overstate the fact in your brag about the political graves .