midnight
Adrian planned to hand his son the bank deposit book across the gang plank as the ship cast off . They were going first to the Sandwich Islands . Then on to China , India , the South Seas . Each evening , sometimes until midnight , they perused the illustrated travel-folders , describing routes , hotels , trains , steamships . `` You 're like a couple of children , '' smiled Francisco on the evening before their departure . He was writing a novel , in addition to the other work for Carmony and Pixley . Sometimes it was hard work amid this unusual prattle by his usually sedate and silent parents .