midnight
Night after night I set my burglar trap , and morning after morning I locked it up in the closet . I can not say that I was exactly disappointed that no opportunity offered to test the value of my plan , but it did seem a pity that I should take so much trouble for nothing . It had been some weeks since any burglaries had been committed in the neighbourhood , and it was the general opinion that the miscreants had considered this field worked out and had transferred their labours to a better-paying place . The insult of having been considered unworthy the attention of the knights of the midnight jimmy remained with us , but as all our goods and chattels also remained with us we could afford to brook the indignity . As the trap cost nothing my wife did not object to my setting it every night for the present . Something might happen , she remarked , and it was just as well to be prepared in more ways than one ; but there was a point upon which she was very positive . `` When George William is old enough to go about the house by himself , '' she said , `` those decanters must not be left exposed upon the table .