Midnight
He had not had enough exercise that day to make him sleepy ; and then , too , he thought he would sit up and see the old year out . He had an indistinct idea that it was rather a virtuous thing to do , rather more pious than sleeping the night through just as if it were any other night . He put his much-handled , oft-read books down before him on the table , and set himself to passing the evening with them . Midnight is actually midnight when the sun goes down before five o'clock and there is no artificial interest for the after hours . Most men have more religion at heart , latent or developed , than can be seen by others . When they have not , when what shows is as much as what is -- God pity them ! Alec Trenholme was not given to self-dissection or to expression of his private sentiments , therefore neither to himself nor to others was the religion of him very visible .