midnight
_ Must _ you go , I say ? '' ` The old gentleman makes him no answer , but climbs up the ladder in a greater bustle than ever . Tom looked after his legs till there was nothing of him left , and then sat down to wait ; feeling -LRB- so he used to say -RRB- as comfortable as if he was going to be made a freemason , and they were heating the pokers . ` Tom waited so long , gentlemen , that he began to think it must be getting on for midnight at least , and felt more dismal and lonely than ever he had done in all his life . He tried every means of whiling away the time , but it never had seemed to move so slow . First , he took a nearer view of the child with three heads , and thought what a comfort it must have been to his parents . Then he looked up a long telescope which was pointed out of the window , but saw nothing particular , in consequence of the stopper being on at the other end .