midnight
If any one of them had been put in power , how much easier ` twould have been to get the band every evening ! and then the hops would n't have to close at midnight either ! and Mrs. Turner was devoted to dancing . `` But papa says Mr. Billings is right about not letting the band play after midnight , '' broke in the young lady , whose years had been spent in many a garrison , and whose papa -- the post surgeon -- had pronounced views on matters of military and medical discipline . `` Papa says the officers have no right to make the band play until late at night unless they pay them extra . They have to be up at reveille , and it 's a shame to make them work all day and at night too ! '' `` The doctor is by no means alone in that idea , '' began a third speaker in a quiet voice , and both Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Raymond , who had impulsively burst into speech at the same instant , checked their nimble tongues , bridled , sweetly said , `` I beg your pardon , Mrs. Stannard , '' and inclined attentive ears to a lady who at the moment had stepped from the open door-way to the piazza .