midnight
It was his only amusement , poor man ; it reminded him of his native land . They say that Spain is all hills ! ``` One evening , a few days after he was sent here , he was out very late . I was rather uneasy when he did not come in till just on the stroke of midnight ; but we all got used to his whims ; he took the key of the door , and we never sat up for him . He lived in a house belonging to us in the Rue des Casernes . Well , then , one of our stable-boys told us one evening that , going down to wash the horses in the river , he fancied he had seen the Spanish Grandee swimming some little way off , just like a fish . When he came in , I told him to be careful of the weeds , and he seemed put out at having been seen in the water .