midnight
`` It 's never too hot for Mr. Sneak to get in his fine work . I wonder whose stuff he is after ? '' Turning over flat on my stomach so that I might the more readily observe the man 's movements , and breathing pianissimo lest he in turn should observe mine , I watched him as he climbed . Up he came as silently as the midnight mouse upon a soft carpet -- up past the Jorkins apartments on the second floor ; up stealthily by the Tinkletons ' abode on the third ; up past the fire-escape Italian garden of little Mrs. Persimmon on the fourth ; up past the windows of the disagreeable Garraways ' kitchen below mine , and then , with the easy grace of a feline , zip ! he silently landed within reach of my hand on my own little iron veranda , and craning his neck to one side , peered in through the open window and listened intently for two full minutes . `` Humph ! '' whispered my inner consciousness to itself .