midnight
We came into town on foot . One of the first persons we encountered , as we walked up the street , was the Rev. Mr. ------ , an old friend from America -- a lucky encounter , indeed , for his is a most gentle , refined , and sensitive nature , and his company and companionship are a genuine refreshment . We knew he had been in Europe some time , but were not at all expecting to run across him . Both parties burst forth into loving enthusiasms , and Rev. Mr. ------ said : `` I have got a brimful reservoir of talk to pour out on you , and an empty one ready and thirsting to receive what you have got ; we will sit up till midnight and have a good satisfying interchange , for I leave here early in the morning . '' We agreed to that , of course . I had been vaguely conscious , for a while , of a person who was walking in the street abreast of us ; I had glanced furtively at him once or twice , and noticed that he was a fine , large , vigorous young fellow , with an open , independent countenance , faintly shaded with a pale and even almost imperceptible crop of early down , and that he was clothed from head to heel in cool and enviable snow-white linen . I thought I had also noticed that his head had a sort of listening tilt to it .