Midnight
The New-Englander simply turned and ran , nor did he pause until he had locked and bolted himself into his bedroom . There , all night long , a prey to the most terrible imaginations , he watched beside the fatal boxful of dead flesh . The suggestion of the boots that his trunk was full of gold inspired him with all manner of new terrors , if he so much as dared to close an eye ; and the presence in the smoking-room , and under an obvious disguise , of the loiterer from Box Court convinced him that he was once more the centre of obscure machinations . Midnight had sounded some time , when , impelled by uneasy suspicions , Silas opened his bedroom door and peered into the passage . It was dimly illuminated by a single jet of gas ; and some distance off he perceived a man sleeping on the floor in the costume of an hotel under-servant . Silas drew near the man on tiptoe . He lay partly on his back , partly on his side , and his right forearm concealed his face from recognition .