midnight
A sudden quaking seized me . How was I to get back to school ? I was too weary to make the journey on foot , and I knew not where to apply for a conveyance . Even if I should find one , could I venture to disturb the school-house long after midnight ? to arouse that sleeping lion , the usher , in the very midst of his night 's rest ? The idea was too dreadful for a delinquent school-boy . All the horrors of return rushed upon me -- my absence must long before this have been remarked -- and absent for a whole night ?