midnight
But see '' -- with returning asperity -- `` that those rounds go , and at their hours . Let there be no remissness . I will make a note , '' he continued , `` of the hours fixed . An hour before midnight and an hour before dawn '' . He extended his arm and drew the ink-horn towards him . Midway in the act , whether it was that his hand shook by reason of his illness , or that he was in a hurry to close an interview which tried him more severely than appeared , his sleeve caught the little phial of green water that stood beside the soup on the table . It reeled an instant on its edge , toppled on its side , and rolling , in one-tenth of the time it takes to tell the tale , to the verge of the table -- fell over .