About midnight
When he finds he is approaching one of those streams , his dread is so lively that he is disposed to fly the track and avoid the implacable foe . Eight or nine months after the distress of the torrents had departed from me , the roar and thunder of the streets of Paris brought it all back again . I moved to the sixth story of the hotel to hunt for peace . About midnight the noises dulled away , and I was sinking to sleep , when I heard a new and curious sound ; I listened : evidently some joyous lunatic was softly dancing a `` double shuffle '' in the room over my head . I had to wait for him to get through , of course . Five long , long minutes he smoothly shuffled away -- a pause followed , then something fell with a thump on the floor . I said to myself `` There -- he is pulling off his boots -- thank heavens he is done . ''