midnight
He laughed at my apprehensions . But I was pained to see how soon my fears proved true . Within a fortnight , the rosy color of his cheeks had disappeared , and his eyes were palpably sunken , dull , and marked with a sickly blue beneath . He never returned home till midnight , and sometimes was out till three o'clock in the morning . I scolded him for devoting so much time to his law club ; but he said that the members were , like himself , enthusiastic students , and that he was always the first to leave their fascinating debates and mimic trials . A week later , I marked the familiar bloat in his cheeks , and suspected the truth . `` Placing a watch upon his movements -- no easy matter , for he is very shrewd and cautious -- I soon found out that the law club was a myth , and that his nights were passed in the wildest debauchery .