midnight
Cardillac 's house in the Rue Nicaise abuts on to a high wall with niches , containing old , partly-broken statues . One night I was standing close to one of those figures , looking up at the windows of the house which open on the courtyard which the wall encloses . Suddenly I saw light in Cardillac 's workshop . It was midnight , and he never was awake at that time , as he always went to bed exactly at nine . My heart beat anxiously : I thought something might be going on which would let me get into the Louse . But the light disappeared again immediately . I pressed myself closely into the niche , and against the statue ; but I started back in alarm , feeling a return of my pressure , as if the statue had come to life .