midnight
`` I have done my story ; and now I am going to look what o'clock it is -- a thing I have refrained from , in my impulse to tell you all . The house is quite still , and I heard the church clock strike something very long just now ; but I would not count . It is so . It was midnight that the clock struck . I shall seal this up directly . I dare not trust my morning -- my broad daylight mood with it . Now , as soon as you have got thus far , just take up your pen , and answer me , telling me as copiously of your affairs as I have written of ours .