midnight
So he learned with that boy about Jupiter and Juno , and the Greeks and the Romans , and I do n't know what , and learned more than I could tell -- or he either , for he soon forgot a great deal of it . But , they were not always learning ; they had the merriest games that ever were played . They rowed upon the river in summer , and skated on the ice in winter ; they were active afoot , and active on horseback ; at cricket , and all games at ball ; at prisoner 's base , hare and hounds , follow my leader , and more sports than I can think of ; nobody could beat them . They had holidays too , and Twelfth cakes , and parties where they danced till midnight , and real Theatres where they saw palaces of real gold and silver rise out of the real earth , and saw all the wonders of the world at once . As to friends , they had such dear friends and so many of them , that I want the time to reckon them up . They were all young , like the handsome boy , and were never to be strange to one another all their lives through . Still , one day , in the midst of all these pleasures , the traveller lost the boy as he had lost the child , and , after calling to him in vain , went on upon his journey .