midnight
In either case , Edelweiss was not what he had come to believe it would be . He had travelled overland for nearly a month , out of the heart of Asia , to find himself , after all , in a graveyard of great expectations ! He had explored Edelweiss , the capital . He had ridden about the ramparts ; he had taken snapshots of the fortress down the river and had not been molested ; he had gone mule-back up the mountain to the snowcapped monastery of St. Valentine , overtopping and overlooking the green valleys below ; he had seen the tower in which illustrious prisoners were reported to have been held ; he had ridden over the King 's Road to Ganlook and had stood on American bridges at midnight -- all the while wondering why he was there . Moreover , he had traversed the narrow , winding streets of the city by day and night ; never , in all his travels , had he encountered a more peaceful , less spirit-stirring place or populace . Everybody was busy , and thrifty , and law abiding . He might just as well have gone to Prague or Nuremburg ; either was as old and as quaint and as stupid as this lukewarm city in the hills .