eight at night
For a fraction of a minute they gazed upon each other in silence ; and then the man of the house , with ashen lips and gasping voice , inquired the business of his visitor . Challoner replied , in tones from which he strove to banish his surprise , that he was the bearer of a letter to a certain Miss Fonblanque . At this name , as at a talisman , the man fell back and impatiently invited him to enter ; and no sooner had the adventurer crossed the threshold , than the door was closed behind him and his retreat cut off . It was already long past eight at night ; and though the late twilight of the north still lingered in the streets , in the passage it was already groping dark . The man led Challoner directly to a parlour looking on the garden to the back . Here he had apparently been supping ; for by the light of a tallow dip the table was seen to be covered with a napkin , and set out with a quart of bottled ale and the heel of a Gouda cheese . The room , on the other hand , was furnished with faded solidity , and the walls were lined with scholarly and costly volumes in glazed cases .