midnight
The very title implies that , at this period of my memoirs , I was ignorant of the two first ; and it will be necessary for the due development of my narrative , that I allow them to remain in the same state of bliss ; for in the perusal of a tale , as well as in the pilgrimage of life , ignorance of the future may truly be considered as the greatest source of happiness . The little that was known of me at this time I will however narrate as concisely , and as correctly , as I am able . It was on the -- I really forget the date , and must rise from my chair , look for a key , open a closet , and then open an iron safe to hunt over a pile of papers -- it will detain you too long -- it will be sufficient to say that it was on _ a _ night -- but whether the night was dark or moonlit , or rainy or foggy , or cloudy or fine , or starlight , I really can not tell ; but it is of no very great consequence . Well , it was on a night about the hour -- there again I 'm puzzled , it might have been ten , or eleven , or twelve , or between any of these hours ; nay it might have been past midnight , and far advancing to the morning , for what I know to the contrary . The reader must excuse an infant of -- there again I am at a nonplus ; but we will assume of some days old -- if , when wrapped up in flannel and in a covered basket , and , moreover , fast asleep at the time , he does not exactly observe the state of the weather , and the time by the church clock . I never before was aware of the great importance of dates in telling a story ; but it is now too late to recover these facts , which have been swept away into oblivion by the broad wing of Time . I must therefore just tell the little I do know , trusting to the reader 's good nature , and to blanks .