midnight
`` We are anxious to hear what they mean . '' `` Well , '' responds Wharton , `` you shall know why I 've spoken them , and what 's led me to suspect this fellow Fernand . You can draw your own conclusions , from the premises I put before you . Last night at a late hour -- near midnight -- I took a fancy into my head to have a stroll towards the river . Lighting a weed , I started out . I ca n't say exactly how far I may have gone ; but I know that the cigar -- a long ` Henry Clay ' -- was burnt to the end before I thought of turning back . As I was about doing so , I heard a sound , easily made out to be the footsteps of a man , treading the firm prairie turf .