midnight
`` Home , or we 'll set you in the stocks by peep of day ! '' `` This is the second hint of the kind , '' thought Robin . `` I wish they would end my difficulties , by setting me there to-night . '' Nevertheless , the youth felt an instinctive antipathy towards the guardian of midnight order , which at first prevented him from asking his usual question . But just when the man was about to vanish behind the corner , Robin resolved not to lose the opportunity , and shouted lustily after him , `` I say , friend ! will you guide me to the house of my kinsman , Major Molineux ? '' The watchman made no reply , but turned the corner and was gone ; yet Robin seemed to hear the sound of drowsy laughter stealing along the solitary street .