midnight
What face did you just see ? -- or no , '' he added quickly , `` do n't tell me ! '' And he gave Tom the story . It was midnight when he finished , and after that , with all lights burning , two sleepy , shivering boys read to each other from `` The New Machiavelli , '' until dawn came up out of Witherspoon Hall , and the Princetonian fell against the door , and the May birds hailed the sun on last night 's rain . CHAPTER 4 . Narcissus Off Duty During Princeton 's transition period , that is , during Amory 's last two years there , while he saw it change and broaden and live up to its Gothic beauty by better means than night parades , certain individuals arrived who stirred it to its plethoric depths . Some of them had been freshmen , and wild freshmen , with Amory ; some were in the class below ; and it was in the beginning of his last year and around small tables at the Nassau Inn that they began questioning aloud the institutions that Amory and countless others before him had questioned so long in secret .