midnight
Then in the twilight I walked along an unknown , bat-haunted road between high hedges . I did not sleep under a roof that night . But I hungered and ate . I ate near midnight at a little inn over toward Birmingham , and miles away from my home . Instinctively I had avoided the crests where the bonfire crowds gathered , but here there were many people , and I had to share a table with a man who had some useless mortgage deeds to burn . I talked to him about them -- but my soul stood at a great distance behind my lips ... . Soon each hilltop bore a little tulip-shaped flame flower .