nearly ten o'clock
The big house stood like a huge , unadorned vault set back from the street , some distance from its adjoining buildings . The heavy steps echoed to our footbeats as we mounted them in the darkness ; and the sound of the bell , as Hartnett pressed it came sharply to us from the silence of the interior . * * * * * We stood there , waiting . In the short interval before the door opened , Hartnett glanced at his watch -LRB- it was nearly ten o'clock -RRB- , and said to me : `` I imagine , Doctor , we shall meet a blank wall . Let me do the talking , please . '' That was all . In another moment the big door was pulled slowly open from the inside , and in the entrance , glaring out at us , stood the man we had come to see .