midnight
Colonel Whaling and his adjutant were delighted to make a temporary transfer to meet the case and to write to Mr. Billings for regimental sanction . All too late , Gleason heard of and tried to stop it . It took Wolf out of his control and compelled him to resort to watching him . He had so palpably given it to be understood that _ he _ was the sweet singer who had entranced the garrison in his midnight serenades that Gleason now felt he could not go to the adjutant and tell him that Wolf was the man , and that he must pen him up at night . Indeed , he rather wanted to have more of the serenading . He sniffed a scandal , and in his resentment at Mrs. Truscott 's evident avoidance of him and Miss Sanford 's serene indifference , he was beginning to feel that he could welcome anything that would besmirch their names or cloud their domestic peace . From his soldier servant he learned that Wolf spent hours in writing letters , most of which he burned or tore up ; that he held himself aloof from the bandsmen , and was trying to get a little room to himself .