midnight
The concert for which the Unique Orchestra had been making night hideous for two weeks had just come to a successful close , and the editor found himself at a late hour tramping out the lonely road that led to the office with the prospect of a couple of hours ' work to do before he could seek a well-earned rest upon the office bench . He was flushed with his double triumph as director and cornet soloist , and still thrilled by the mighty notes he had breathed into his beloved instrument . The violin sobs , the flute complains , the drum insists , but the cornet brags , and Mr. Opp found it the instrument through which he could best express himself . It was midnight , and the moon , one moment shining brightly and the next lost behind a flying cloud , sent all sorts of queer shadows scurrying among the trees . Mr. Opp thought once that he saw the figure of a man appear and disappear in the road before him , but he was so engrossed in joyful anticipation of the morrow that he gave the incident no attention . As he was passing the Gusty house , he was rudely plunged from sentiment into suspicion by the sight of a figure stealthily moving along the wall beneath the front windows . Mr. Opp crouched behind the fence to watch him , but the moon took that inopportune moment to sink into a bank of clouds , and the yard was left in darkness .