midnight
You will find Louis before morning , and I shall spend the night in prayer until you have found him ... for him and you ... and for that poor wretch , that dreadful woman , more to be pitied than any one . '' His confidence did not encourage him . Hour by hour the messengers of Curran appeared with the one hopeless phrase : no news . He walked about the park until midnight , and then posted himself in the basement with cigar and journal to while away the long hours . Sinister thoughts troubled him , and painful fancies . He could see the poor lad hiding in the slums , or at the mercy of wretches as vile as Claire ; wandering about the city , perhaps , in anguish over his ruined life , horrified at what his friends must read in the morning papers , planning helplessly to escape from a danger which did not exist , except in his own mind . Oh , no doubt Curran would find him !