midnight
It had been said by imbecile residents of the vicinity that the paving was never allowed to remain down for a sufficient time to be invalided by the tramping millions , but that it was kept perpetually stacked in little mountains through the unceasing vigilance of a virtuous and heroic city government , which insisted that everything should be repaired . The alderman for the district had sometimes asked indignantly of his fellow-members why this street had not been repaired , and they , aroused , had at once ordered it to be repaired . Moreover , shopkeepers , whose stables were adjacent , placed trucks and other vehicles strategically in the darkness . Into this tangled midnight Hawker conducted Florinda . The great avenue behind them was no more than a level stream of yellow light , and the distant merry bells might have been boats floating down it . Grim loneliness hung over the uncouth shapes in the street which was being repaired . `` Billie , '' said the girl suddenly , `` what makes you so mean to me ? ''