midnight
This obscure saying baffled him , the more so that he had been playing a concertina and not a fiddle at all . His feelings were vague , and in some respects contradictory ; but he was convinced that Mrs. Prockter 's scheme for separating Helen and the Apollo Emanuel was not precisely succeeding . After that night great-stepuncle James became more than a celebrity -- he became a notoriety in Bursley . Had it not been for the personal influence of Mrs. Prockter with the editor of the _ Signal _ , James 's exploits upon the concertina under weeping willows at midnight would have received facetious comment in the weekly column of gossip that appears in the great daily organ of the Five Towns on Saturdays . James , aided by nothing but a glass or two of champagne , had suddenly stepped into the forefront of the town 's life . He was a card . He rather liked being a card .