midnight
` Sosia , thy freedom ! Think well ! If thou wilt let me out only for one little hour ! -- let me out at midnight -- I will return ere to-morrow 's dawn ; nay , thou canst go with me . ' ` No , ' said Sosia , sturdily , ` a slave once disobeyed Arbaces , and he was never more heard of . ' ` But the law gives a master no power over the life of a slave . ' ` The law is very obliging , but more polite than efficient .